Chinese consumers fuelled a travel and tourism boom last year, despite the country’s economic slowdown.
尽管中国经济增速放缓，但是去年中国消费者引发了一场旅游观光热潮。
Chinese tourists spent $215bn outside mainland China in 2015, according to figures from the World Travel & Tourism Council, a 53 per cent rise from the $140bn spent in 2014.
世界旅游业理事会(WTTC)的数据显示，2015年中国游客在中国内地以外地区的消费额达2150亿美元，较2014年的1400亿美元增长了53%。
While outbound Chinese tourism has been growing strongly in recent years, yesterday’s figures represent a sharp acceleration.
近年来中国出境游一直增长强劲，而昨天公布的数据更是代表了急剧的加速增长。
“[Chinese] outbound tourism is growing like crazy,” says David Scowsill, president and chief executive of the WTTC. “There were some significant shocks last year, in the stock market and the currency, but it didn’t slow the growth of travel and tourism. Once people have started to travel, they are reluctant to give that up.”
“中国出境游像疯了一样地增长，”WTTC的总裁兼首席执行官戴维斯科斯尔(David Scowsill)称，“去年中国在股市和汇市经历了一些显著冲击，但是并未拖累旅游业增长。一旦人们开始旅行，他们就不愿停下脚步。”
However, the surge in Chinese outbound tourism has widened the country’s trade deficit in the sector. The number of foreign tourists visiting China inched up to 56.9m in 2015, a rise of only 2.2 per cent in two years, said the UN World Tourism Organisation. Provision愀氀 figures from the body suggest these visitors spent about $57.5bn in China — a rise of just 1.1 per cent over 2014.
然而，中国出境游迅速增长使得中国在该领域的贸易赤字扩大。联合国世界旅游组织(UN World Tourism Organisation)表示，2015年赴中国旅游的外国游客数量微升至5690万人，两年仅增长了2.2%。该组织提供的临时数据显示，这些游客在中国消费了约575亿美元——较2014年增长了仅1.1%。
According to the WTTC, China’s tourism exports — the revenues received from foreign visitors — were a fraction higher than this at $61bn. However, this was still just 2.6 per cent of the country’s total export revenue, compared with a global figure of 6.1 per cent.
WTTC表示，中国旅游业出口额——来自外国游客的旅游收入——略高于上述外国游客消费额，为610亿美元。但这仍然仅占中国出口总收入的2.6%，相比之下全球该比例为6.1%。
Factoring in domestic travel within China, the travel and tourism sector accounted for just 7.9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2015, the WTTC said, below the global figure of 9.8 per cent. The trade body says the industry, directly and indirectly, supported 65m jobs in China last year, 8.4 per cent of total employment, below the global figure of 9.5 per cent, or 284m jobs.
WTTC称，将境内游算在内，2015年中国旅游业占国内生产总值(GDP)的比例仅为7.9%，低于9.8%的全球水平。该行业机构称，去年旅游业在中国直接和间接提供了6500万个工作岗位，占就业总数的8.4%，低于9.5%的全球水平（即2.84亿个工作岗位）。
However, the WTTC believes China’s travel industry, already the world’s second-largest after that of the US, will ex瀀愀渀搀 by 7 per cent a year over the next decade, outstripping global growth of 4 per cent and overtaking the US by 2024.
但WTTC认为中国旅游业——已然是仅次于美国的全球第二大旅游业——将在未来十年中每年增长7%，超过4%的全球增速，并将在2024年超过美国的规模。
To attract more foreign tourists, Mr Scowsill suggests China needs to copy the US by creating a visa waiver progra洀洀攀, introducing an electronic visa pro挀攀猀猀椀渀最 system and launching a China-wide marketing fund, rather than leaving marketing to individual provinces.
为了吸引更多的外国游客，斯科斯尔建议中国仿照美国，建立免签计划、引入电子签证处理系统、并启动全国范围的推广基金，而不是让各省自行推广旅游业。
Beijing also needs to free more airspace for tourist flights, says Mr Scowsill. “Given the growth of [China’s] airlines, there is a tremendous strain on the air traffic systems. That is because the military are managing the airspace.”
斯科斯尔称，北京方面还需要为旅游航班开放更多空域。“考虑到（中国）航线的增长，空中交通系统面临巨大压力。这是因为军方管理着空域。”
However, the surge in the number and spending power of China’s outbound tourists is not lifting all boats. The WTTC reported “severe declines” in tourism revenues in 2015 in Macau (down 32 per cent), South Korea (down 10.2 per cent) and Hong Kong (off by 8.4 per cent), each of which are highly reliant on visitors from mainland China.
不过，中国境外游在游客数量和消费能力上的增长并没有使所有地区受益。WTTC报告称，2015年澳门、韩国和香港的旅游收入“严重下滑”，分别下滑了32%、10.2%和8.4%，以上地区均高度依赖中国内地游客。