CHINA is to become the world's top tourist destination by the year 2020, the World Tourism Organization (WTO) has predicted. Francesco Frangialli, WTO secretary-general, said China will achieve a historic transformation, becoming not only a huge Asian tourist nation but a giant among the world's tourism leaders in the next two decades. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao reiterated Frangialli's statement made at the opening ceremony of the WTO's 15th general assembly in Beijing last week. Figures show that China is on pace to meet this projection. In August, the number of outbound travellers reached 2.1m, increasing by 34.5% compared with the same period last year. From January to August, the total number of Chinese outbound travellers was 11.8m up 15%.
http://www.wto.or