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China expected to stimulate world travel economy in 2010

March 16, 2010 |

Although the financial crisis of 2009 greatly affected all sectors of the travel industry, the World Travel Trends report released last week at ITB in Berlin predicted a slight recovery from some regions, including a strong boom commencing from China.

Rolf Freitag, the CEO of IPK International, a world travel research monitor that tracks the trends in outbound travel demand, told Xinhua on Wednesday: "China is very dynamic and is finding it 's place in the world. This year's economic recovery will come from the East to the West."

In 2010, IPK's travel research envisions that Chinese outbound travel will bolster a four-percent increase in tourism compared to Europe's stagnation and a five-percent decrease in the United States.

According to statistics presented at the 44th annual ITB Tourism Trade Show in Berlin on Wednesday, the tourism sector in Europe and North America has been hardest hit in the crisis, with a 19-percent decrease in 2009.

Professor Peter Greischel, who teaches Tourism Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich, told Xinhua: "The figures appear realistic to me. I was, however, shocked by the U.S. statistics, which means it is still a depressed market."

Get the full story at Xinhua

Download the "Global Travel Trends 2009" at IPK International (PDF 1.9MB)

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