Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e6

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Tourism Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tourman

China's outbound tourism e Stages, policies and choices*

Bin Dai, Yiyi Jiang*, Liqiong Yang, Yiliang Ma
China Tourism Academy, Beijing 10005, China

h i g h l i g h t s

 Describes current developments in Chinese tourism policies.

 Indicates Chinese use of “soft power” though tourism policies.
 Provides indications of official thinking behind Chinese tourism policy making.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: China's outbound tourism has developed rapidly in recent years. This development has been accom-
Received 7 March 2016 panied by a continuous and expanding deficit in the tourism balance of trade, triggering debate among
Accepted 7 March 2016 government officials and academia about whether China's outbound tourism development has outgrown
Available online xxx
general economic development. Understanding China's growth in outbound tourism and its impact has
therefore become more than an academic issue; it also affects the future orientation of China's tourism
Keywords:
policy. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the tourists, spatial flow, market size, and expenditure.
China outbound tourism
Despite the above concerns, it is suggested that China's outbound tourism is still in a preliminary stage of
Stages of development
Policy choice
development and furthermore complies fully with national policies. Therefore, orderly guidance and
discretionary market policies are proposed to further facilitate the growth of the outbound tourism
market in China.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction quickly. By the end of the 2012, the approved ADS countries
numbered 115. China has become the fastest major growing source
In 1984 China's outbound tourism commenced with officially market with the number of outbound tourists increasing from
sanctioned visits by Chinese nationals to relatives residing in Hong 2,988,700 to 70,250,000 between 1992 and 2011. Equally inbound
Kong and Macau. Six years later the China National Tourism tourism also grew and tourism became an important source of
Administration promulgated “Provisional Measures Concerning the foreign exchange earnings, but such was the growth of outbound
Administration of Arranging Chinese Citizens to Southeast Three tourism the industry has recorded a trade deficit. In total trade
Countries” in October 1990, to be followed by the China National deficit of US$372 billion was recorded from 2009 to 2011, and it
Tourism Administration and the Ministry of Public Security jointly continues to grow. Based on international comparisons, many
promulgating “Provisional Measures Concerning the Administration scholars indicated that China's outbound tourism had developed
of Outbound Travel of Chinese Citizens at Their Own Expenses” in 1997. far too quickly.
With the removal of restrictions over time through the agreed Such concerns stimulated further research, and it was quickly
Approved Destination Scheme (ADS) and the growth of China's taken up by researchers outside of China who commenced research
economy and national income, outbound tourism developed into the trend by examining consumption behaviour, economic
impact, and policies and regulations (Du, Li, Qin, & Li, 2002; Li,
2006; RT, 2002; RT, 2003; Xi & Yin, 2009; Zhang, 2005). Among
*
This paper was originally published in Chinese as: DAI Bin, JIANG Yiyi, YANG all of these studies, major concerns were expressed over the
Liqiong, and MA Yiliang. (2013). Stage characteristics and policy choices of China's implication of the trend and the impact of enlarging the tourism
outbound tourism development. Tourism Tribune, 28(1), 39e45. trade deficit. Among the issues noted were the growing gulf be-
* Corresponding author.
tween rich and poor, the large amount of public funds being used
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (B. Dai), [email protected] (Y. Jiang),
[email protected] (L. Yang), [email protected] (Y. Ma). for overseas travel, suggestions as the taxation of outbound travel

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.009
0261-5177/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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expenditure to decrease foreign exchange loss and concerns over process and transportation, the eastern zone has been the main
leakages from domestic demand (Dai, 2005; Dai, 2012; Dai & Deng, outbound tourism generating area for some time. Table 1 shows the
2008; Dai & Wu, 2006). On the other hand some argued that figure of outbound tour operators in China from 2011. In terms of
outbound travel was simply an objective reflection of the interna- GDP which is the measurement of regional development and per
tionalism of citizen behaviour that is achieved when the national capita disposable income, and hence a measure of consumption,
and regional economy achieves a given level of development. Thus the eastern area is in or close to the threshold interval of an
it always been that outbound tourism increases with a growing explosive phase of outbound tourism that was proposed by previ-
GDP (Lei & Shi, 2008), and meanwhile, it was influenced by many ous studies (Dai, 2012). In addition, it is thought that due to large
macroeconomic factors, such as economic policy (Zhang & Tan, amounts of “hidden income”, the actual income of the eastern re-
2011). In short the industry's trade deficit was simply an inherent gion is probably higher than that indicated by official figures. On
part of the trend of economic development (Su & Li, 2012). It was one estimate, the per capita disposable income of high-income
symptomatic of China's economy achieving both modernity and households is three times higher than the previous official figure,
being is step with wider global trends (Yang, 2006; Zhang & Liu, which in itself represented 10% of all urban households, and the
2001; Zhang & Yang, 2007). income of other residences was also higher than the official data
From that perspective, a renewed emphasis was placed on (Wang, 2007). This was consistent with observations and data
policy making and its role in China's global developing strategy. relating to consumer expenditure. Such discrepancies begin to
Based on the current understandings, and while recognizing that better explain the official estimates of outbound expenditures and
differences existed at the different stages of development, two numbers of outbound tourists where the latter apparently out-
conclusions stood out, namely: 1) the development of the performed the former.
outbound tourism market correlated with economic development;
and 2) at any specific stage, policy intervention might skew the 2.2. Spatial flow: more outbound tours, less overseas tours
development of both tourism and the economy.
When combining changes in China with those in the remaining From the impacts of political factors and history of development,
parts of the world, a new structure occurs within the three markets China's outbound tourism can be divided into three categories: (a)
of inbound tourism, domestic tourism, and outbound tourism. The Hong Kong and Macau tours, (b) border tours, and (c) multiple
relationship of tourist resource and destination, tourism industry destinations (China National Tourism Administration, 2011; Zhang,
development and economic development has changed funda- 2002). With the early opening and close relationship with main-
mentally. With such a macro-background, how to understand the land China, Hong Kong and Macau are the main overseas destina-
characteristics of the current stage of outbound tourism, and the tions. In 2003 individual visitation to Hong Kong and Macau was
increasing trade deficit of recent years, is not only an academic rationalized under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic
issue, but a practical one relating to tourism marketing policies of Partnership Arrangement. The number of mainland Chinese visiting
the new age. Hong Kong and Macau continually increased year by year until
2013/14. The numbers of Mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong and
2. The stages of China's outbound tourism development Macau occupied about 70% of Chinese total outbound tourists from
2004. Taiwan was opened in 2008 for individual visit with the
Previous quantitative studies about China's outbound tourism, implementation of the Mainland Residents to Taiwan Tourism
no matter whether longitudinal based on previous secondary data, Agreement. The number of tourists visiting Taiwan increased
or horizontal based on cross sectional data, are all based on the dramatically, and Taiwan became the fourth outbound destination
same hypothesis: that is, the national and regional outbound for mainland households. Because of these large flows of tourists to
market is considered as homogeneous. This unrealistic hypothesis Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, in the strict sense, the number of
ignored differences in the generations of the tourists and their real outbound tourists is still a relatively small minority. Among the
respective expenditure structures. Whilst China's outbound 70,250,000 outbound tourists in 2011, there were 28,320,700
tourism has specific characteristics for each of its different stages of tourists who visited Hong Kong, 19,765,300 tourists to Macau, and
the development, such as it integration into the macro-economy, 18,450,000 tourists visited Taiwan, and only 22,164,000 tourists
the generation and extension of the trade deficit, and the impact attended border tours and overseas tours that accounted for 30% of
of industrial policies, many of differences are both relatively the total number.
shallow, and yet hide the underlying fundamental structures of Of those visiting Hong Kong and Macau, the main form of
outbound tourism from a policy perspective. traditional visit is in the nature of a day trip because of the
This paper describes therefore the character of each stage on the geographic position and the close economic and social relation-
viewpoint of the tourism system in terms of the tourists' resource, ships. For example, in Hong Kong, 51.2% of visiting mainland tour-
spatial flow, market size, and expenditure. ists took day tours in 2011, and this number increased to 56.4% in
January to October in 2012. Among these tourists, 25.1% tourists
2.1. Tourist resource: more from high-income areas, and less from transferred, or visited friends and relatives instead of undertaking
low-income areas trips classified as holidays, business and conferences. The average
expenditure of a day tour was HK$ 2439 which was 29.7% of the
The development of China's outbound tourism was not a expenditure of stay over tourists (HKD 8220). As the main part of
completely gradual process. An imbalance in tourist generation was China's outbound tourists, tourists visiting Hong Kong and Macau
caused by regional differences in economic development, notably significantly differ as to trip distance, destination, duration, and
between the east and west of China. Both GDP and per capita expenditure from the main body of outbound tourists. From this
disposable income of eastern China are all higher than central and point, as the derivatives market, China's outbound market is still in
western China. In 2010, GDP per capita was RMB46,354 in the a transition period from domestic tourism to outbound tourism.
eastern region, and per capita disposal income of an urban citizen Equally, the demonstrations of 2013 and 2014 served to show the
was RMB 23,273 which figures are 1.91 and 1.46 times higher than sensitivity of these markets, not only to the demonstrations per se,
those of central China, and 2.06 and 1.47 times higher than in but also to the policy statements of the Beijing government, and the
western China. Aided by increasingly convenient visa application controls put in place.

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Table 1
Ranking tourist amount of outbound tour operators in China, 2011.

No. Region Outbound tourists No. Region Outbound tourists

Person/time Night Person/time Night

1 Guangdong 1 1 17 Anhui 21 18
2 Shandong 6 4 18 Heilongjiang 16 16
3 Zhejiang 3 3 19 Hainan 29 27
4 Beijing 2 2 20 Hebei 17 21
5 Jiangsu 7 8 21 Inner Mongolia 25 24
6 Shanghai 4 5 22 Shanxi 22 20
7 Henan 9 7 23 Tianjin 18 17
8 Liaoning 5 6 24 Jiangxi 20 26
9 Sichuan 8 19 25 Jilin 23 25
10 Fujian 10 9 26 Guizhou 24 22
11 Chongqing 12 10 27 Tibet 32 32
12 Hubei 11 12 28 Gansu 26 28
13 Shaanxi 19 11 29 Xinjiang 28 29
14 Yunnan 13 14 30 Ningxia 27 23
15 Guangxi 14 13 31 Qinghai 30 31
16 Henan 15 15 32 Production and Construction Corps 31 30

2.3. Market size: large absolute numbers, and small relative As in the case of other countries, China's outbound tourism can
numbers be reclassified as including business and private tours to other
countries and regions, such as sightseeing, holiday making, visiting
Despite the fact that the numbers of outbound Chinese tourist friends and relatives (VFR), medical purposes, shopping, attending
are large, the numbers remain small when compared with the conferences, and attending other activities of economy, culture,
huge total population of approximately 1.3 billion people. In sport and religion (China National Tourism Administration, 2011).
1992, outbound tourists occupied 0.25% of the population. Even Thus, it includes the business and private tours, the narrow sense of
by 2011, only 5.21% of the population undertook overseas travel. sightseeing, and the broad sense of business and conferences. From
Using the strictest sense of overseas travel, that is setting aside the viewpoint of statistics, this is a broad set of measures that serve
the numbers visiting Hong Kong and Macau on day trips, the to enlarge the actual size of the outbound market, and possibly
outbound tourists only occupied 1.65% of the population in 2011. overstate outbound tourism when compared with data from
By contrast, Japanese outbound tourists comprised 4.68% of the developed economies (Fig. 1).
population in 1992 and in 2013 about 13%. Similarly Korean
outbound tourists accounted for 4.68% of the population in 1992, 2.4. Structure of the expenditure
and about 25.5% in 2011. Taiwan's outbound tourists were 20.26%
in 1992, and 41.27% in 2011. Outside the Asian countries, in the Shopping is an important activity for outbound tours. According
United States the outbound market is about 20% of the popula- to the 2011 China Tourism Academy survey, 32.2% of Chinese
tion. Among the so-called BRIC countries, the data are: Russia- tourists sample considered they spent most money on shopping,
20% from 2006, India, 1.06% in 2010, and Brazil's outbound and only 10.8% and 10.0% respectively nominated expenditure on
market has experienced up and downs, and recovered to about entertainment and entry tickets as their highest spend items (China
2.72% in 2012. Tourism Academy, 2012). In some destinations, shopping accounts
Thus, in terms of absolute numbers, China was ranked second to for very percentages of outbound tours. In 2011, the proportion of
Germany in 2011. However, as a big country with 1.3 billion pop- expenditure spent on shopping was respectively 70.4%, 60.5%, and
ulation, China's outbound market is, in percentage terms, just the 59.2% in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. IT is suggested that the
same size as Korea was in 1992. Using strict definitions as noted main reasons for this could be classified as “overdraft consumption”,
above, the contrasts would be even starker. the social habit of “shadow consumption” (purchases on behalf of

Fig. 1. International comparison of percentage of outbound tourist to population.

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third parties) (Yang, 2006), and high import taxes “transfer con- only fully apply to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. In short, China's
sumption”. These forms of “irrational consumption” are determined outbound tourism policy is based upon an empirical judgement of
by the current stage in the development of China's outbound the level of economic development and political relationships, and
tourism. In the early stages of outbound tourism, tourism expen- it will adapt to different stages of development and patterns of
diture would be enlarged beyond a point that does not reflect actual relationships.
income. From the developmental viewpoint of the developed Although the role of outbound tourism policies directly impact
countries, when outbound tourism becomes an ordinary activity, on the outbound tourism market, they are not limited to one
irrational consumption would then become rational. function. Outbound tourism is part of the promotion of a compre-
In conclusion, China's outbound market shows an obvious hensive national tourism development strategy that includes the
character of spatial imbalance. The eastern area is in or close to the enhancement of international exchanges and other aspects of the
threshold interval of an explosive phase of outbound tourism, while country's soft power. Outbound tourism policies concern the goal of
in central and western regions, outbound tourism has yet to the harmonious development of inbound and outbound tourism,
become common. Second, nearly 70% of the Chinese outbound and the satisfaction of the tourists.
tourist flow is to short-haul destinations such as Hong Kong, Macao As part of this the ADS policies have sought to overcome past
and Taiwan. China's outbound tourism behaviour therefore shows complex processes and restrictions in visa application, and to make
transitional characteristics connecting domestic travel and travel overseas travel more easily accessible to Chinese citizens. With the
abroad, travel purpose, stay duration and consumption per capita. development of outbound tourism, the country's outbound tour
Third, compared with its large population, China's outbound mar- operators and travel agents have had to also improve their pro-
ket is still proportionally far behind some developed countries. cedures and service quality to fully comply with various policies as
Fourth, the consumption behaviour of Chinese outbound tourists is summarized under the Travel Law of 2013. At the same time,
geared towards shopping rather than enjoying the cultural activ- China's enterprises have commenced an international strategy of
ities of their destination. This behaviour is still gradually maturing, going out. The development of outbound tourism has a positive
where it would focus more on generally having a pleasant travel effect on the pattern of China's overall diplomacy. And gradually, a
experience. The study concludes that China's outbound tourism, distinct Chinese characteristic and style of tourism policy is being
which is in accordance with national conditions, is still in a pre- formed. Currently the approval rate of ADS with those countries
liminary stage of development. with which China has diplomatic relations stands at 100% in
America, 90% in Europe, 70% in Oceania and Asia, and 50% in Africa.
3. Policy choices The contribution of China's outbound tourism helped to build the
image of China as a “responsible big country”. Against the back-
International tourism also has its dimensions of economic, po- ground of the global financial crisis of 2008, China did not take any
litical and international attributes (Luo & Mao, 2007). With the action that would limit the development of its outbound tourism.
increase of China's foreign exchange reserves, the requirement for Instead, through ordered development, it helped destination
China's tourism in terms of generating foreign exchange has been countries to avoid a fundamental recession. In 2011, total inbound
reduced. Under this scenario, outbound tourism has (a) a specific tourists worldwide grew by 4.4%. Within this total, the contribution
role balancing trade, and (b) a cultural output that is a louder voice of Chinese outbound tourism was equivalent to 30%, which signif-
in daily life at an international level. How to implement and take icantly helped to offset the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the
advantage of outbound tourism is major part of policy making and Japanese disasters, and the negative effects caused by riots in the
subsequent academic research. Middle-East and North Africa. China's outbound tourism is the
dynamic source of the global tourism development, and also con-
3.1. Marketing policy, national policy and the totality of outbound tributes significantly to regional tourism collaboration and future
tourism inbound tourism development.

According to international experience, marketing policies have a 3.2. Restrictive policies: legitimacy, implementation and potential
significant facilitative or prohibitive impact on outbound tourism effects
development. China's outbound tourism experienced strict control
from 1950 to 1983, and the developmental stage of visiting friends In the 16th century, the mercantilist view as represented by
and relatives in Hong Kong or Macau and the border tours from Stewart, believed that the currency was the only form of wealth. An
1983 to 1997 might, in hindsight, be described as tentative. Policy inflow of money created wealth and an outflow a loss of wealth. In
from 1997 to 2005 was far more proactive, while policies from 2005 terms of the economic ideology, the mercantilists advocated the
to 2009 have sought to strengthen supervision, improve the quality use of tariffs to protect trade, and encouraged exports by restricting
of tours and administrative arrangements to better regulate imports to maintain a certain trade surplus. Modern international
development and order affairs from 2009 on. Over time outbound trade theory emphasizes the division of labour and exchange, to
tourism market policies have carefully promoted outbound tourism reduce transaction costs by minimizing consumption and to stim-
and gradually opened it up. ulate industrial activity, thereby achieving a winewin for all
Since 1997 the implementation of the ADS (Approved Destina- stakeholders. Since the 19th century, wave after wave of elimi-
tion Status) policy has focused on outbound tourism approvals nating trade barriers has occurred and is an inherent requirement
based on bilateral tourism agreements that allow Chinese tourists for the world's economic and social development. It is also a
to visit another country at their own expense as a group with a comprehensive, long-term, and integrative innovation in interna-
special visa. In China, ADS fully opens or partly opens outbound tional trade policy. Throughout the world, existing outbound
tourism in terms of different regions. Chinese outbound tourists tourism policies are gradually releasing controls and implementing
must form a group to visit another country or region, and only free market policies. Meanwhile, through promoting the trans-
approved tour operators can arrange the tours. The National State national flow of the tourism production factors, by promoting
Council has approved 115 ADS countries, which account for 66.86% services, human resource, technology, management and foreign
of the 172 countries with which China has diplomatic relations. FIT investment, tourism is benefiting other countries directly, and
and individual tours are flexible parts of the ADS arrangements and drives the development of international trade, technology, and

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 B. Dai et al. / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e6 5

the tourism services trade deficit, is the focus of the formation of

practical policies for the Chinese authorities.
First, it is essential that the orderly development of marketing
continues to support and guide outbound tourism. The degree and
development of outbound tourism is a symbol of both the openness
of a country and its economic development. The current marketing
policies should be regulatory, persistent and meet the needs of
outbound tourism.
Second, outbound tourism development helps to enhance
China's voice in the international field of tourism to promote it soft
power of its culture and values. We should take advantage of the
rapid development of the outbound tourism to enhance the Chi-
nese voice in international affairs, especially those of organizations,
policies, standards and other aspects. In the process of ADS nego-
tiation, implementation, and assessment, it is possible to guide the
destination countries to gradually open television access to Chinese
satellite channels, and a more liberal import policy of Chinese
Fig. 2. Impacts of tax on balance of supply and demand in outbound tourism market. books, magazines and newspapers. Additionally an improvement in
the Chinese language hosting environment can be an important
cargo trade. Considering the effect of the outflow of income and the
requirement in the opening and implementation of Chinese
multiplier effect of tourism, it is thought reasonable to adopt a
outbound tourism. Tourist satisfaction surveys will help destination
consumption tax to restrict in a short term. However, it is not
countries to complete a public service system to facilitate visa ap-
suitable for the longer term because it negates the objectives and
plications, security arrangements, information provision, and ser-
goals of global tourism development, might cause new rounds of
vices according to the need of Chinese outbound tourists. We
trade protection, and the backlash from other countries would
should strive to protect the travelling rights of Chinese citizens, and
cause unpredictable negative impacts on China's inbound tourism
to enhance the well-being of Chinese citizens during travelling.
development.
Third, to support Chinese enterprises to establish themselves
The consequences of taxes on outbound tourism consumption
overseas there is a need to promote aspects of tourism elements
tax remain a question. Some scholars propose that such a tax might
such as the transfer of capital, technology, management and human
let rich people spend more during overseas travel, but such argu-
resources throughout the world. The increase in national and
ments fail to recognize that the rational “economic man” maintains
regional outbound tourism expenditure is a specific strength when
a stable relationship of budgeting, income and wealth. Taxation
participating in international competition. The government should
might be able to increase the expenditure of a single trip, but the
be aware of the opportunity which is brought by the international
overall expenditure will not be improved. For example, the budget
distribution of China's outbound tourism industry to focus on
of one tourist may be 100,000RMB for ten overseas trips. After
consular protection, to safeguard our citizens and businesses, to
payment of any tax, the budget remains 100,000 RMB, but the
simplify foreign investment review processes, to strengthen in-
number of overseas trips might be reduced to nine. Fig. 2 indicates
vestment information services, etc. to create better policy support
that before taxation, the equilibrium of outbound market is at point
and financial support to encourage tourism related enterprises to
A, which is the intersection of supply curve, S, and the demand
step out of the country, and positively guide China's enterprise to
curve, D0. After taxation, the demand curve moved to the lower left
take advantage of the rapid growth of outbound market and con-
corner, and equilibrium B is in the intersection of the supply curve,
sumption, to promote the internationalization of the industry, and
S, and demand curve, D1, and P0P1represents tax credits. In other
participate in international competition.
words, the market equilibrium price does not change, but the
Fourth, to strengthen international collaboration in tourism,
number of services or goods dropped from Q0 to Q1.
especially in regional tourism collaboration, is an opportunity to
In this manner, travel agents, airlines and other industries
further develop Chinese outbound tourism. We should creatively
subject would suffer due to the reduced business. In the current
inherit and develop current international collaboration, and to
buyer's market structure, if there is no significant change in the
create larger spaces for outbound tourism development. We should
price and quality of China's tourism product, it is hard for the in-
promote the exploration in international tourism collaboration to
dustry to transfer the loss by increasing prices (in Fig. 2, the supply
make a breakthrough in visa regulations, infrastructure construc-
curve would be steeper). In other words, the goal of retaining more
tion, and tourism project collaboration. We should increase bilat-
consumers in China could not be achieved by increasing the price of
eral and multilateral consultations through diplomatic channels, to
outbound trips. Therefore, an outbound tourism consumption tax
further restore and promote border tourism development, to
will not benefit the industry's development, and it is unfair for
explore convenient processes, such as visa and patterns of stay. We
ordinary consumer who has to pay more, or even cancel an over-
should establish regular evaluative processes with ADS countries
seas trip because of the tax. Additional it does not meet the long-
and regions, and to conduct research for the optimization and
term Chinese macro-control policies of structural tax reduction.
upgrading of ADS regimes.

3.3. The development of mass tourism requires the orderly Acknowledgements

development of a tourism market policy
This part is suggested to be changed: This study was supported
In the near future, China's outbound tourism market will by grants from the Project Funded by Special Funds for Regional
continue to expand and maintain a high growth rate. Affected by Cooperation in Asia of China (to Bin Dai) (the Research Project on
factors, such as the steady growth of inbound tourism, the further the Tourism Cooperation for BCIM Economic Corridor) and China
expansion of a tourism service trade deficit is inevitable. How to National Program for Support of Tip-top Young Experts from China
protect the benefit of outbound tourism, and how to face and use Organization Department of the Central Committee and the

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6 B. Dai et al. / Tourism Management xxx (2016) 1e6

Foundation of Cultivating Plan for Tourism Young Experts and the Bin Dai is a Professor and the President of China Tourism
Academy, and also a doctoral supervisor at Huaqiao Uni-
Key Scientific Research Project from China National Tourism
versity. He obtained his doctoral degree in economics
Administration (to Yiyi Jiang) (Study on Determinants and effects of from the Graduate School of China Academy of Social
China outbound tourist flow) (TYEPT201404). (14TACK009). Sciences in 2004. He specializes in studies of tourism
enterprise management and tourism industrial eco-
nomics, and has over 380 papers and 40 monographs
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Xi, X., & Yin, S. (2009). Research on the trend of development on outbound tourism tourism.
in China. Journal of Harbin University of Commerce (Social Science Edition), 1,
115e118 (in Chinese).
Yang, J. (2006). An analysis of “overgrowth and over-consumption” in China's
outbound travel and policy orientation. Tourism Tribune, 21(6), 65e68 (in
Chinese).
Zhang, G. (2002). Outbound: worries behind the glory. People’s Forum, 3, 36e39 (in
Chinese).
Zhang, G. (2005). Sober judgment on China's outbound tourism boom: argument Yiliang Ma has been a research assistant at China Tourism
for future China's outbound tourism policy. Finance & Trade Economics, 7, 87e91 Academy for several years. He received his PhD in National
(in Chinese). Economics from Renmin University of China in 2009 and
Zhang, G., & Liu, D. (2001). China's development analysis and Forecast 2011. Beijing: Master's degree in Transportation Planning and Manage-
Social Science Literature Press (in Chinese). ment from Beijing Jiaotong University. His research fo-
Zhang, L., & Tan, J. (2011). An empirical research into the relation between outbound cuses on tourism satellite accounts (TSA) and tourism
tourism expenditure and GDP per-capita of USA. Journal of Beijing International quantitative economic analytical methods and models. He
Studies University, 5, 8e12 (in Chinese). also participated in more than 50 research projects at
Zhang, L., & Yang, C. (2007). From “giving prominence to foreign exchange earnings” national and provincial levels, and in various tourism
to balance of payment: rethinking about the developing strategy of China's planning initiatives. Additionally he has published several
outbound tourism. Tourism Tribune, 22(6), 20e24 (in Chinese). academic research papers in related fields.

Please cite this article in press as: Dai, B., et al., China's outbound tourism e Stages, policies and choices, Tourism Management (2016), http://
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.03.009