Chinese outbound tourism and soft power

As previously reported in this column early this year, the 13th National People’s Congress in March 2018 saw the merging of China’s State Council the Ministry of Culture and CNTA China National Tourism Administration into the new Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

While many headlines focused on the reappointment of president Xi Jinping – and the removal of limits to number of terms he may serve – the Congress’ establishment of the new ministry confirmed Beijing’s official position that outbound tourism serves as a tool for “…enhancing the country’s soft power and cultural influence, and promoting cultural exchanges internationally”. With Chinese outbound travellers having comfortably established themselves as the world’s top overseas spenders by nationality in the past few years, as well as making up a significant share of international visitors in numerous destinations worldwide, the Chinese source market has a heavy footprint in many destinations worldwide[…]

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Image: Beijing Airport by Rob Deutscher Source: Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)