China Becomes World’s Biggest Source of Tourists, Academy Says

China overtook Germany and the U.S. to become the world’s biggest source of tourists after the number of outbound trips taken by its citizens increased 18.4 percent last year.

Outbound travel from China climbed to 83.2 million trips last year, Ma Yiliang, a researcher at the Beijing-based China Tourism Academy said today. That number has surged more than eight-fold from 2000, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, which earlier reported the figures.