Some 50 million visits in 2006 are set to rise to 130 million by 2020. China’s capacity is no less important than its many tourist locations and the huge exotic fascination it generates.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – They keep coming, foreign tourists that is. Their number has become an endless flow. Currently, the Middle Kingdom ranks fourth on the ‘Most Visited Country’ list in terms of capacity but the future has all the signs of a boom in the making.

“There is no doubt that by 2020 about 130 million will go there every year,” said John Kester, UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) chief of market intelligence. “It will be the most popular place in the world.”

The rise of China as a tourist destination was underscored this month by the UNWTO when it said the country had the fastest rising number of visitors in the world.

Its success is a combination of a limitless capacity to cope with millions more foreign tourists and the exotic fascination of its locations.

For Kester, “though it is a long way to go, it is very cheap for people in the West, whereas places like France and Spain are not that cheap any more.”

Still, last year, 76 million people spent their holiday in Paris or the Cote d'Azur, making France the world's favourite tourist location. Spain attracted a record 58.5 million people with the US coming in third at just over 50 million. Hot on its heels is mainland China, which attracted 49.6 million people last year, 5 million more than the previous year.

What is the key to that success? “It's simple; you need to have the space to accommodate more tourists if you want to really expand," Kester said. And “China . . . is a mini-continent” that “has . . . built a huge infrastructure of hotels and airports which can deal with mass tourism.”

He noted that the mainland had ensured the world knew what it had to offer through a series of showcase events. For example, next year, the world's attention will be fixed on Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. In 2010, the Shanghai World Exhibition will attract the world's gaze again.

For now, the largest number of tourists heading to the Great Wall or Tiananmen Square are not from the far-flung West, but from much closer to home, Asia. In 2005, according to UNWTO figures, 4.1 million visitors came from Taiwan, 3.5 million from Hong Kong and 3.4 million from Japan.

The mainland was also popular with Malaysians, people from Singapore, the Philippines, Mongolia and Australia.

From further afield, it also attracted 2.2 million Russians, 1.6 million Americans, 500,000 Britons, 450,000 Germans and 430,000 Canadians.

If the mainland tourism industry realises its expectations, tourism will form a core part of the country's economic makeup, similar to Spain where tourism contributes 11 per cent to the gross domestic product.

Although the picture is rosy future, one major problem is the language barrier. Only in Hong Kong and the mainland’s main cities can tourists find someone who can understand them. (PB)

• china
• tourism
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