The number of passport holding citizens in China will double to 240 million by 2020, predicted by Ctrip, one of the Chinese travel service agency that offers accommodation and other travel services.
Rising affluence is also likely to drive growth in Chinese travel, Jane Sun, chief executive officer of Ctrip.com International Ltd.
Ctrip is relying on an increase in Chinese tourism to fuel its global ambition of becoming one of the world’s most valuable travel companies.
The passport numbers in China are a key statistic in predicting overseas tourism and the proportion of Chinese with the travel document has historically been lower compared to neighbors like Japan. That disparity is changing as the mainland’s economic boom fuels growth in household wealth.
The World Economic Forum said that there are around 120 million people have their passports. By 2020, the number of Chinese passports will be likely doubled so the market will grow tremendously in the next couple of years.
The goal of Ctrip is to have as much as 1.4 trillion yuan ($221 billion) worth of annual gross merchandise volume, which refers to the total value of products sold on its platform.
Tags: china, ctrip, japan, Tourism, tourism developments
