According to the latest release from CNTA i.e. China National Tourism Administration the outbound departures from China reached over 57.39 million in 2010 with a year-on-year growth of about 20%.

Europe and American destinations had an impressive growth of inbound visitors from China during the whole year. Chinese tourists to major European countries such as Germany, France and UK had a double-digit growth with as high as 23% recorded. With the growing interest in USA and the opening of Canada market, the Chinese citizens' travel to North America is predicted to increase further in 2011.

Chinese travelers to Australia and Africa had a significant growth in 2010. The annual growth of Chinese tourists to some African destinations was as high as 80%.  Besides the continuous growth of tourists flow to traditional popular destinations of Australia and New Zealand as well as Oceania with up to 70% increase, Chinese tourists to other tropical destinations like the Caribbean increased rapidly. 

With the higher than expected bookings for overseas travel during the forthcoming Chinese New Year CNTA predicts outbound travel from China would increase 16% to 65 million in 2011, while overseas spending would jump further 14% to $55 billion.

Chinese citizens with stronger Yuan in their pockets were estimated to have spent $48 billion abroad in 2010,  the China Tourism Academy, the research arm of CNTA reported on Monday.

Stronger purchasing power and the appreciation of the Renminbi against almost all foreign currencies helped boost overseas trips, the report noted.

Tens of millions of wealthier Chinese will continue to help boosting economic growth and employment in the world's major tourist destinations, said Dai Bin, deputy head of the academy.

Relevant news in Chinese: 世博年中国出境游规模快速增长