Statistics recently released by the National Tourism Administration show that in October China received 11.22 million inbound visits, dropping 3.22% compared with the same period last year.

This is the third month in a row a decline in inbound tourism has been recorded, indicating that the impact of the financial crisis on the Chinese tourism industry is emerging at an accelerating pace.

The major overseas tourist source market includes the US, Europe and Japan. Leaning on the opportunity brought about by a successful Beijing Olympics, the National Tourism Administration initiated well-targeted, large-scale promotions.

However, due to the effects of the financial crisis, residents of the aforementioned areas have been forced to reduce expenses considerably. This has offset to a certain degree the achievements made by the tourism promotion campaigns.

It is learned that the number of tourists received by the China International Travel Service Head Office, the biggest travel agency for inbound tourism in China, has already declined by over 20%.

Experts point out that given the influence of booking cycles, the reaction of the inbound tourism market will lag behind and, consequently, the Chinese inbound tourism market will remain sluggish in the first half of next year. In particular, the impact on internationally-oriented tourism products will be increasingly distinct.