More than 57 million Chinese tourists are expected to travel abroad in 2011, spending a staggering US$55 billion (S$71 billion), the China Tourism Academy, a think tank to the tourism authorities, said in a report released on Monday.

According to the annual report, the Blue Book of China's Tourism Economy (2010-2011), the travel boom will send 3 million more Chinese travellers abroad in 2011 than last year, with a larger amount of outbound tourist spending.

"China remains Asia's largest source of outbound tourists as the number of outbound travelers continues to soar," said Dai Bin, head of the academy.

The flourishing outbound tourism market is sending the wealth of China's well-heeled tourists beyond the country's borders.

The report said it is estimated that last year income from 132 million inbound tourists in China reached US$46 billion, while the 54 million Chinese outbound travelers spent US$48 billion aboard.

"There was definitely a deficit in tourism service trade in 2010," Mr Dai said.