A global focus of China’s struggling economy has been its real estate industry. New data on Friday underscores problems in another sector that employs millions: tourism.
Domestic tourist trips in China, home to one of the world’s largest travel and tourism industries, plunged by more than 22% in the first half amid fallout from the country’s “zero-Covid” policies.
The number of trips declined to 1.45 billion in the first half of 2022 from 1.87 billion a year earlier, according to figures from the country’s Xinhua News Agency, citing Ministry of Culture and Tourism data.
The decline in tourist visits is a part a lackluster performance by an economy that has been a world growth leader in recent decades. Spending by domestic tourists declined to $173 billion in the first half of this year from $248 billion a year earlier, according to Xinhua figures.
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