Tourism drives lackluster economy

The tourism sector was the engine of growth that drove the lackluster economy out of recession in 2014, according to the recently released annual report from China’s tourism development office.

The number of international visitors grew 5 percent in the first eight months of 2014 and tourism demand kept surging, especially for visitors from the Northern Hemisphere, says a report from United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).America, Asia-Pacific and Europe continue to outperform other regions in tourism growth.

UNWTO projected that the growth rate of total international visitors would reach 4 to 4.5 percent in 2014, slightly higher than its earlier forecasted growth rate of 3.8 percent.

The better-than-expected growth is making contributions to developed economies and emerging ones like China whose international tourism income and regional tourism trade has dwarfed other economies in the Asia-Pacific region.Global travel contributes to closer ties between the region and the rest of the world.