A more travel-friendly globe awaits Chinese_美文

A more travel-friendly globe awaits Chinese

However, with the number of Chinese outbound tourists skyrocketing, many countries have started eyeing the huge potential market.

According to the preparatory team of the federation, many tourism cities worldwide might be equipped with signs and introductions in Chinese in the near future.

"As the purchasing power of Chinese tourists continues growing, no one wants to ignore such a big piece of the pie," said Lu.

The Chinese have become a major buying power in foreign markets in recent years, according to Li.

"Foreigners traveling to China spent 4.7 billion yuan ($743 million) more than Chinese outbound tourists in 2008. However, we spent 4 billion yuan more than them one year later," he said.

That difference exceeded 24.1 billion yuan in 2011, he added. Li said the growing purchasing power of Chinese tourists is very likely to lead to other conveniences as well, including easier visa applications, more frequent flights and the establishment of more direct routes between Chinese and foreign cities.

Previously, due to concerns about illegal immigration, many countries carried out strict and complicated verification for Chinese tourists.

However, Li said that since hardly any cases of illegal immigration are related to outbound tourism, many countries are creating more incentives to attract Chinese tourists.