China had largest number of outbound tourists globally in 2015: report

WUHAN - China had the largest number of outbound tourists in the world in 2015, a new report showed.

The number of China's outbound tourists increased almost tenfold from 2001 to 2015, reaching 128 million last year, far exceeding those of the United States and Britain, according to a report released by the Wuhan Branch of the China Tourism Academy.

Chinese consumers spent a whopping $292.2 billion overseas, a year-on-year increase of 10 percent and accounting for about 23.2 percent of all outbound consumption in the world last year, according to the report.

The country's tourism sector also generated more than a quarter of the jobs in the world's tourism industry in 2015, according to the report.

Hu Jing, head of the branch, said that China ranked first globally in the numbers of tourists travelling domestically, outbound tourists, domestic tourism consumption, outbound tourism consumption and tourist-related employment.

"The tourism boom is a result of a good environment for the industry in China, including favorable policies, the number of days with good air quality and better treatment of garbage," Hu said.

The report has been published annually since 2011.