On January 22, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism released the results of a domestic tourism sample survey, showing that in 2024, the number of domestic tourist trips reached 5.615 billion, an increase of 724 million compared to the same period last year, representing a year-on-year growth of 14.8%; total spending on domestic tourism reached 5.75 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.84 trillion yuan compared to the previous year, representing a year-on-year growth of 17.1%.
According to the latest data from the Fifth National Economic Census, the added value of the tourism and related industries nationwide in 2023 reached 5.4832 trillion yuan, accounting for 4.24% of the GDP, a year-on-year increase of 0.57 percentage points. Over the past decade, China's tourism and related industries have undergone a process of rapid growth to structural adjustment and optimization, from experiencing a downturn to a stable recovery, demonstrating strong market potential and the effectiveness of policy support.
To gain a clearer understanding of the development changes of the tourism and related industries at different stages, identify the cyclical and volatile nature of industry development, and accurately capture key turning points in the development process and their underlying causes. This report will analyze in detail the changes in the added value of the tourism and related industries from 2014 to 2023, discuss the main factors currently affecting its development, and propose suggestions for future development.
A Decade of Transformation: From Rapid Growth to Innovative Recovery
In August 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations such as the "Statistics Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the Reform and Development of the Tourism Industry (Guo Fa [2014] No. 31)", promulgated and implemented the "National Tourism and Related Industry Statistical Classification (2015)". The introduction of this standard not only provided a scientific basis for the monitoring and statistical work of the tourism and related industries, but also marked the formal entry of China's tourism industry into a standardized and scientific development track.
In the same year, the National Bureau of Statistics released the national added value data of the tourism and related industries for the first time, laying a data foundation for industry development. In the following decade, China's tourism industry has experienced a transition from rapid growth to adjustment and optimization under pressure, and now to stable recovery, demonstrating strong resilience and adaptability. During this process, multiple factors such as policy support, consumption upgrades, and digital transformation have jointly driven industry evolution.
(1) Rapid Growth Period (2014-2019)
In 2014, data disclosed by the National Bureau of Statistics for the first time showed that the added value of the tourism and related industries that year was 2.7524 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.5%. This growth rate not only exceeded the current price growth rate of the GDP by 3.3 percentage points, but its added value also accounted for 4.33% of the GDP. In 2015, although the growth rate of the added value of the tourism industry slowed to 9.4%, its proportion of GDP remained stable at 4.36%.
Entering the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, China's tourism industry ushered in a golden period of development. In 2016, the growth rate of the added value of the tourism industry rebounded to 9.9%, and its proportion of GDP slightly increased to 4.44%. In 2017, the added value of the industry increased by 12.8% year-on-year, and its proportion of GDP reached 4.53%, reaching a small peak of growth. By 2019, the added value of the industry climbed to 4.4989 trillion yuan, accounting for 4.56% of GDP, an increase of 0.05 percentage points compared to the previous year.
In five years, the added value of China's tourism industry jumped from 2.7524 trillion yuan in 2014 to 4.4989 trillion yuan in 2019, almost doubling, with a compound annual growth rate of 10.7%. At the same time, the proportion of its added value in GDP also increased from 4.33% in 2014 to 4.56% in 2019. This change not only achieved a leapfrog improvement in absolute value, but also its position in the national economy became increasingly prominent.
The rapid growth during this stage mainly benefited from three core driving forces: First, the continuous release of policy dividends. The state successively issued a series of documents such as "Several Opinions on Promoting the Reform and Development of the Tourism Industry", providing a solid policy guarantee for the development of the tourism industry. Second, the leapfrog development of infrastructure. The rapid expansion of the high-speed rail network and the acceleration of airport construction have greatly improved the convenience of tourism. Third, consumption upgrades and diversified demand. Tourism has gradually shifted from traditional sightseeing to leisure and vacation, promoting the diversified development of tourism consumption.
(2) Adjustment and Optimization Period (2020-2022)
At the beginning of 2020, a global unforeseen event brought unprecedented challenges to the tourism industry, causing a significant decline in tourism revenue and added value, and the industry fell into a downturn. That year, the added value of the national tourism and related industries fell to 4.0628 trillion yuan, with a significant decrease in growth rate to -9.70%, and its proportion of GDP was 4.01%, down 0.55 percentage points from the previous year. This was the first time in nearly 10 years that China's tourism industry experienced negative growth in these two core indicators.
In 2021, with the unforeseen event under some control, the added value of the national tourism and related industries increased to 4.5484 trillion yuan, and the growth rate rebounded to 12.00%, but its proportion of GDP fell to 3.96%, down 0.05 percentage points from the previous year. In 2022, due to the continued impact of the pandemic, the added value of the national tourism and related industries decreased by 1.8% year-on-year, and its proportion of GDP was 3.71%, down 0.25 percentage points from the previous year.
In three years, due to the repeated unforeseen event and other economic factors, the added value of the national tourism industry fell from 4.4989 trillion yuan in 2019 to 4.4672 trillion yuan in 2022. Although the difference in added value was only more than 300 billion yuan, the proportion of GDP fell sharply from 4.56% in 2019 to 3.71%, a cumulative decrease of 0.85 percentage points in three years, and the average annual contraction rate (0.28%) was almost close to the total increase in the proportion of added value in the previous five years (0.3%).
However, opportunities also arose from the crisis. During this difficult period, the tourism industry also achieved transformative adjustments and optimizations. The central and local governments introduced a series of support policies to help tourism enterprises overcome difficulties and guide the industry to carry out structural adjustments, optimization upgrades, and transformation upgrades. These policies have strongly promoted the rapid rise of new formats and models such as online booking, smart tourism, digital scenic spots, and immersive tourism, and have injected strong impetus into the subsequent recovery of the industry.
(3) Stable Recovery Period (2023 to present)
With the effective control of the unforeseen event and the optimization and adjustment of prevention and control measures, the central and local governments continued to increase their support for the tourism industry. Since the end of 2022, a series of policies to promote tourism consumption have been successively introduced, through measures such as issuing tourism consumption vouchers, expanding financing support, cultivating emerging industries, and creating new consumption scenarios, promoting the upgrading and transformation of tourism products and the diversified development of the market, effectively stimulating the vitality of the domestic tourism, surrounding tourism, and rural tourism markets.
In 2023, the tourism industry gradually entered a stable recovery period. The added value of national tourism and related industries reached 5,483.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.74%, and its proportion of GDP also rebounded to 4.24%, an increase of 0.57 percentage points from the previous year. Although this proportion still has a certain gap compared to 4.33% in 2014 and 0.32 percentage points compared to 4.56% in 2019, the overall trend remains positive, demonstrating strong recovery momentum and development potential.
The recovery at this stage is not only reflected in the significant growth of data, but also in the industry's innovation and sustainable development. In August 2024, the State Council issued the 'Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Service Consumption'. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and other relevant ministries and local governments, in accordance with the opinions, introduced a series of policies and measures to promote tourism consumption, continuously optimizing the policy environment for domestic and inbound tourism, further unleashing the market effectiveness of culture and tourism policies aimed at promoting consumption.
Three years of disaster, five years of discounts. Although the tourism industry has been severely hit, it still shows tenacious vitality. According to survey statistics for the first three quarters of 2024, domestic trips totaled 4.237 billion, a year-on-year increase of 563 million, or 15.3%; total tourism expenditure was 4.35 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 0.66 trillion yuan, or 17.9%; inbound tourism reached 94.6283 million person-times, a year-on-year increase of 78.8%. From these data, it is not difficult to see that the tourism industry is steadily narrowing the gap with pre-2019 levels. This is both an inevitable result of the market bottoming out and rebounding, and within reason and expectation.
'Two Major Sectors': Challenges Brought by Structural Reshaping
Statistical data, seemingly simple numerical elements, actually contain the inherent logic of market development. In the past decade, especially after three years of trough, China's tourism industry has undergone a profound transformation from rapid growth to adjustment and optimization, and then to stable recovery. This transformation was not achieved overnight, but rather an inevitable result and a phased challenge brought about by the internal structural adjustments of the tourism industry, while also fostering new development opportunities.
In 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics comprehensively revised the 2015 version of the tourism industry statistical classification and promulgated the 'National Tourism and Related Industries Statistical Classification (2018)'. This classification divides the tourism industry into two core sectors: tourism and tourism-related industries. Its scope is further refined into nine major categories, including tourism travel, tourism accommodation, tourism catering, tourism sightseeing, tourism shopping, tourism entertainment, comprehensive tourism services, tourism auxiliary services, and government tourism management services, providing more precise data support for statistical monitoring.
Using the added value data of the tourism industry from 2017 to 2023 as a mirror, we can glimpse the logic and trends of internal structural changes. The data shows that in 2023, the added value of the national tourism industry was 5,483.2 billion yuan, accounting for 4.24% of GDP. Among these, the added value of the tourism sector occupied an absolute dominant position, reaching 4,989.0 billion yuan, accounting for 91.0%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points from the previous year; the added value of tourism-related industries was 494.2 billion yuan, accounting for 9.0%, a decrease of 1.7 percentage points from the previous year.
(I) Evolution of Added Value and Proportion of Tourism Industry
According to an analysis by Sanchuanhui Culture and Technology Research, from 2017 to 2019, the added value of China's tourism industry showed a continuous and stable growth trend. During this period, the proportion of the tourism industry's added value within the overall tourism sector consistently remained above 90%, powerfully confirming its core pillar status in the overall industrial structure. However, in 2020, unforeseen global events severely impacted the tourism industry, causing the added value of tourism to plummet to 3,642.9 billion yuan, with its proportion falling to 89.7%, reaching its lowest point in recent years.
With the continuous optimization and improvement of domestic prevention and control measures, the added value of the tourism industry achieved a significant rebound in 2021, reaching 4,072.4 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth rate as high as 11.8%. Nevertheless, its proportion of the overall industry's added value slightly declined to 89.5%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. Entering 2022, the added value of the tourism industry experienced another minor pullback, dropping to 3,970.8 billion yuan, and its proportion further shrank to 88.9%, a decrease of 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Benefiting from a series of targeted support policies from national and local governments, starting from 2023, China's tourism industry has demonstrated astonishing recovery resilience and potential. In that year, the added value of the tourism industry soared to a historical high of 4,989.0 billion yuan, and its proportion also strongly rebounded to 91.0%, essentially recovering to pre-2019 levels. This series of data fluctuations not only reveals the tourism industry's strong adaptability and recovery speed in adversity but also provides valuable reference for future policy directions and market forecasts.
(II) Changes in Added Value and Proportion of Tourism-Related Industries
Compared to the tourism industry itself, between 2017 and 2019, the proportion of added value of tourism-related industries showed a steady upward trend, gradually rising from 7.8% to 9.4%, signifying its increasingly prominent position in the tourism industry landscape. However, in 2020, affected by the volatile rebound effect of the market, the proportion of added value of tourism-related industries unexpectedly peaked at 10.3%, which to some extent reflects the vulnerability of the tourism industry under special circumstances, while tourism-related industries showed a relatively stable trend.
It is worth noting that with the gradual recovery of the tourism industry, the stability of tourism-related industries quietly underwent a transformation. Between 2020 and 2022, their added value experienced volatile growth, and their proportion also climbed from 10.3% to a new peak of 11.1%, an cumulative increase of 1.7 percentage points. However, this growth trend did not last; with the full recovery of the tourism industry, the proportion of added value of tourism-related industries plummeted to 9.0% in 2023, a significant drop of approximately 2 percentage points from the previous year, offsetting the total growth in proportion over the preceding three years.
This trend clearly reveals that China's tourism industry and its related industries have undergone significant fluctuations and changes in recent years. Despite numerous challenges, the tourism industry has demonstrated strong recovery capabilities and market adaptability. At the same time, tourism-related industries are facing a market reshuffle and profound internal structural adjustments. This change has not only reshaped the growth trajectory of related industries but also brought new challenges to the overall future development of the tourism industry, prompting more in-depth structural optimization and market positioning adjustments within the industry.
'Nine Major Industries': New Trends in Internal Competition
In summary, the 'two major sectors' of the tourism industry and its related industries are undergoing profound structural adjustments. This transformation directly reflects the complex competitive advantage landscape and changes in growth drivers within its segmented 'nine major industries'.
(I) Seven Core Industries Achieve Significant Improvement
In 2023, the added value of the national tourism industry reached 4,989.0 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.64%, accounting for as high as 91% of the overall composition, an increase of 1.7 percentage points from the previous year. In this booming trend, all seven core industries played indispensable supporting roles. Particularly noteworthy is that despite slight adjustments in the compositional proportion of tourism travel and tourism sightseeing, the added value and proportion of the other five major industries all achieved simultaneous growth.
1. Tourism Shopping: Strong Momentum Leading Growth
As a new consumer hotspot, the tourism shopping industry has shown strong and stable growth in recent years. From 2017 to 2023, its added value increased significantly from approximately 1191.8 billion yuan to 1864.4 billion yuan. Despite a brief impact in 2020, it quickly recovered, with a growth rate of 29.65% in 2023. In terms of composition, the tourism shopping industry steadily increased from approximately 32.0% in 2017 to 34.0% in 2023, ranking first among the seven core industries.
2. Tourism Travel: Continued Recovery and Stable Position
In recent years, with continuous improvements in transportation and increased public willingness to travel, the tourism travel industry has maintained its important position. From 2017 to 2023, the tourism travel industry experienced fluctuating growth, with added value increasing from 1029.3 billion yuan to 1263.4 billion yuan. Although severely impacted in 2020, it quickly recovered, achieving an 11.39% growth rate in 2023. In terms of composition, the tourism travel industry decreased slightly by 2.4 percentage points in 2023, but it remains one of the industries with a higher proportion among the seven core industries.
3. Tourism Catering: Local Cuisine Becomes a New Favorite
From Zibo barbecue to Tianshui hot pot, local specialties have become key attractions for tourists in recent years, making the tourism catering industry highly noticeable. Between 2017 and 2023, the industry's added value rapidly increased from approximately 515.4 billion yuan to 837.9 billion yuan, with significantly higher growth rates after 2020, reaching a 39.74% increase in 2023. In terms of composition, the tourism catering industry also increased from approximately 13.8% in 2019 to 15.3% in 2023, becoming a new highlight in the tourism market.
4. Tourism Accommodation: Strong Recovery Unleashes Potential
With the full release of tourism consumption, the tourism accommodation industry has shown a strong recovery. From 2017 to 2023, the industry's added value increased from approximately 297.3 billion yuan to 397.9 billion yuan, with growth rapidly rebounding after 2020 and reaching a high of 43.08% in 2023. In terms of composition, although the absolute value of the tourism accommodation industry decreased during special periods, it reflects the strong rebound in tourism accommodation demand and the market's rapid adjustment capabilities.
5. Tourism Sightseeing: Traditional Transformation is Imperative
Facing fierce market competition and diversified consumer demands, the tourism sightseeing industry urgently needs to accelerate its traditional transformation and innovation. From 2017 to 2023, the industry's added value increased from 194.3 billion yuan to 283.4 billion yuan, but the growth rate was relatively slow. In terms of composition, the tourism sightseeing industry remained stable at around 5.1%, with a small fluctuation range. This reflects the challenges traditional tourist attractions face from emerging integrated tourism and cultural industries and new scenarios, and the urgent need to seek new growth points.
6. Tourism Entertainment: Unlimited Vitality of Emerging Forces
In recent years, emerging industries such as city concerts, tourism performances, and immersive spaces have continued to boom, injecting new vitality into the tourism entertainment industry. From 2017 to 2023, the industry's added value steadily increased from approximately 151 billion yuan to 247.3 billion yuan, with growth gradually recovering after 2021, reaching 29.0% in 2023. In terms of composition, the tourism entertainment industry increased from 4.1% in 2017 to around 4.5% in 2023, demonstrating broad market development prospects and upward potential.
7. Comprehensive Tourism Services: Maintaining a Good Development Trend
Compared to the other six industries, the tourism comprehensive service industry, although smaller in scale, has a particularly noteworthy development trend. From 2017 to 2023, the industry's added value increased significantly from 49.8 billion yuan to 94.7 billion yuan. Although its growth rate slightly decreased in 2020 (-0.4%), the industry quickly recovered and accelerated its growth afterward. In particular, in 2023, the growth rate of the tourism comprehensive service industry reached 7.0%, with the composition ratio remaining stable between 1% and 2%, demonstrating its stable development trend.
(II) Slightly Weak Performance of Two Service Industries
Tourism-related industries, as a supplement and support for China's tourism industry, have maintained steady growth in recent years, although facing certain market competition challenges. In 2023, its added value reached 494.2 billion yuan. Although it decreased by 0.4% year-on-year, it still holds an important position in the overall tourism economy, accounting for 9.0% of the composition. Among them, the tourism auxiliary service industry, as the main force of this sector, remains an important support for the tourism-related industry despite a slight decline.
8. Tourism Auxiliary Services: Slowing Growth and Untapped Potential
As a core component of the tourism-related industry, the tourism auxiliary service industry has maintained a relatively stable development trend in recent years. From 2019 to 2022, its added value increased from 411.1 billion yuan to 490.4 billion yuan, with an average annual growth of 10.33%, relatively stable. In 2023, the industry's added value decreased by 0.9% year-on-year, with an overall scale still reaching 486 billion yuan, and its composition ratio decreased by 2.2 percentage points. However, its fundamental role in the tourism industry cannot be ignored, and it still has considerable development potential to be tapped.
9. Tourism Management Services: Stable Trend and Slight Growth
Compared to the tourism auxiliary service industry, the government tourism management service industry, although smaller in scale, has shown rapid growth in recent years. In 2023, its added value reached 8.2 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 36.7%, and its composition ratio remained stable at 0.1%. Although the overall proportion is not high, its rapid growth reflects the government's emphasis on and support for the development of the tourism industry. With the government's continued investment and guidance in the tourism industry, this industry is expected to play an even more important role in the future, leading the quality of tourism services towards high quality.
Core Conclusions from Comprehensive Analysis
Based on the in-depth analysis of the added value of China's tourism and related industries from 2014 to 2023, Sanchuanhui Cultural Technology Research has drawn the following four core conclusions.
(I) The Foundation of Tourism Industry Development Remains Solid, but Recovery Still Takes Time
Over the past decade, China's tourism industry has undergone a significant journey from rapid growth to structural adjustment and optimization, and then to stable recovery, fully demonstrating its strong resilience and recovery capabilities. Although the period from 2020 to 2022 brought unprecedented challenges to the tourism industry, causing the national tourism industry's share of GDP to plummet from 4.56% in 2019 to 3.71%, a cumulative decrease of 0.85 percentage points in three years. However, this did not weaken the foundation of the tourism industry, but instead accelerated the optimization and adjustment of its internal structure in adversity.
Starting from 2023, the national tourism industry's added value reached 5483.2 billion yuan, not only achieving steady numerical growth, accounting for 4.24% of GDP, a year-on-year increase of 0.57 percentage points, demonstrating a steady growth trend and strong recovery capabilities, but it will still take time to fully recover to the 2019 level or reach its optimal state. The specific number of years required depends on the combined effects of various factors, including improvements in the macroeconomic environment, changes in the supply and demand of the tourism market, the intensity of policy support and guidance, and the tourism industry's own innovation capabilities.
(II) Significant Supporting Role of Core Tourism Industries, Continuous Structural Optimization
The tourism industry, as the main body of the entire tourism industry chain, has long held an absolute dominant position in terms of added value. In 2023, this trend was further consolidated and strengthened. Data shows that the added value of the tourism industry reached 4.989 trillion yuan in that year, accounting for 91.0%, an increase of 2 percentage points year-on-year. This significant growth not only consolidated the tourism industry's core position in the overall industry but also fully demonstrated its strong driving force as an important engine of economic growth.
Among the seven core industries of the tourism industry, the added value and proportion of tourism shopping, tourism catering, and tourism accommodation all achieved simultaneous growth. Among them, the tourism shopping industry was particularly eye-catching, with an added value of 1.8644 trillion yuan, showing a strong and stable growth trend. This trend reflects the growing consumer demand for tourism shopping and provides strong support for the diversified development of the tourism industry. In addition, the steady growth of the tourism catering and tourism accommodation industries has also laid a solid foundation for the continued development of the tourism industry.
(3) Tourism-related industries face challenges, but there is still untapped potential
Compared with the strong performance of the tourism industry, tourism-related industries did encounter some challenges and obstacles in 2023. Their added value reached 494.2 billion yuan, accounting for 9.0%, but their growth rate decreased compared to the previous year, down 0.4% year-on-year. This change is particularly evident in the tourism auxiliary service industry. As a key link in tourism-related industries, its added value also showed a slight downward trend, which undoubtedly sounded an alarm for enterprises in the industry.
However, challenges often come with opportunities. Although the tourism-related industries are currently facing the dilemma of slowing growth, this does not mean that they have reached the end of their development. On the contrary, this is a crucial moment for the industry to transform and upgrade and find new growth points. On the one hand, it is necessary to continuously launch new auxiliary service formats that meet market demand, attracting consumers with high-quality services and consumer experiences; on the other hand, the government should increase investment in tourism management services, continuously improve tourism infrastructure, and expand business areas by introducing social capital.
(4) Policy support and statistical classification need to be enriched and improved
In recent years, the National Bureau of Statistics has successively promulgated and implemented the "National Tourism and Related Industry Statistical Classification (2015)" and "National Tourism and Related Industry Statistical Classification (2018)", laying a solid foundation for the monitoring and statistical work of the tourism and related industries and providing important policy guidance. However, with the rapid development of the tourism industry and profound changes in its internal structure, especially in recent years, the continuous deepening of the "tourism + all industries" and "all industries + tourism" integration trend has continuously expanded the boundaries and connotations of the tourism industry.
Against this background, the current statistical classification cannot fully cover emerging tourism formats and models in terms of scope, resulting in the failure to fully reflect some rapidly growing tourism-related businesses. In addition, with the continuous development and innovation of the tourism industry, new tourism products and services are constantly emerging, and statistical classification standards should be revised and improved in a timely manner according to the new development trends of the tourism industry. At the same time, the government should further strengthen policy support for the tourism industry and further enhance its status and influence in the national economy.
Conclusion
From 2014 to 2023, we have witnessed the profound changes in the tourism industry, from rapid growth to structural adjustment and optimization, and then to stable recovery. Despite multiple challenges, the tourism industry has demonstrated strong resilience and recovery capabilities, and its added value in GDP has continued to rise, fully demonstrating its position as an important part of the national economy.
With the high-level recovery of inbound and domestic tourism markets, China's tourism industry, after experiencing the severe test of the downturn, is entering a new development stage. At the same time, we must clearly recognize that the high-quality development of the tourism industry cannot be separated from strong policy support. Only by continuously enriching and improving statistical classification standards can we more accurately reflect the development status and trends of the tourism industry; only by continuously increasing policy support for the tourism industry can we continuously enhance its pillar role in the national economy.
Looking to the future, we have reason to believe that with the joint efforts of the government, enterprises, and society, China's tourism industry will continue to adhere to the concept of high-quality development, continue to maintain a stable growth trend in deepening structural adjustment, optimizing resource allocation, promoting business innovation, and service upgrades, and inject new vitality and impetus into the development of the national economy.
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