Beijing's Bureau of Statistics published figures showing that in 2004 Beijing received 3.155 million foreign tourists, rising by 70.4% over 2003 and 1.6% more than the all-time high figures in 2002. In 2004, not only inbound tourism but outbound and domestic tourism also hit all-time new highs.

In terms of inbound tourism, Beijing last year received 2.681 million foreign visitors, up 75.6% and 474,000 tourists from Hong Kong and Macau, a rise of 46%.

During the three 'golden weeks' in 2004, the number of tourists traveling in outbound tour packages organized by travel agencies totaled 70,000, growing by 37% over 2002 and 79% over 2003. In addition, destinations of outbound trips have been expanded from initially just Hong Kong, Macau and south-east Asia to over 50 countries and regions including the EU. In terms of domestic tourism, from the point of view of the number of visits to each tourist attraction, the 20 major tourist attractions, including the Imperial Palace and the Summer Palace, received 55.13 million visitors, an increase of 49.6% from 2003. 

2005/01/28
Source:chinanews.cn