Virgin Atlantic’s new services to Shanghai are increasing both the business and leisure traffic to the Chinese city.
And Yin says China’s tourist infrastructure is ready for the increasing numbers of tourists expected to visit it in the next 20 years.
Most of the major hotel chains such as Hyatt already have a presence in the major cities.
The Madrid-based World Tourism Agency predicts that China will be the world’s number one tourist destination by the year 2020, with more than 130m visitors annually.
But the destination still has some way to go in order to achieve that, attracting only 70m tourists last year.
The latest UK figures show more than 240,000 UK visitors went to China from January to November last year.
China National Tourist Office director UK, Ireland and Nordic countries Baoxiang Yin said the year-end figures are expected to show a healthy 6.7% increase on 1998.
He is pleased with the figures, particularly following last year’s NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia.
Many countries, including the UK Foreign Office, warned travellers against going to China.
“People said that angry demonstrators posed a perceived danger. This is not so,” said Yin.
He added that the Chinese are very friendly to tourists, especially those from the UK.
However, the warnings still managed to keep some tourists away.
But Yin claims the latest incident two weeks ago in Tianamen Square, in which a Chinese man, reportedly suffering from a mental condition, set off a bomb killing himself and injuring a Korean tourist, has not led to any cancellation of holidays. The square borders Beijing’s tourist haunts of the Forbidden City and Chairman Mao’s mausoleum.
Kuoni, one of the leading operators to the country, also claimed the incident had not led to any cancellations.
China’s burgeoning economy is also leading to a growth in the business travel market. Virgin Atlantic’s new services to Shanghai are increasing both the business and leisure traffic to the Chinese city.
And Yin says China’s tourist infrastructure is ready for the increasing numbers of tourists expected to visit it in the next 20 years.
Most of the major hotel chains such as Hyatt already have a presence in the major cities.