In 2014, the Chinese mainland welcomed 128.5 million visitors from overseas. South Korea, Japan and the US were the top 3 source countries, with 4.2, 2.7 and 2.1 million tourists respectively. In comparison, China’s own Hong Kong was by far the biggest contributor, sending 76.1 million tourists to the mainland.

In November 2014, the number of outbound tourists from the Chinese mainland reached 100 million for the first time. The number climbed to 107 million by the year’s end. Hong Kong and Macau were among the favorite destinations, receiving a combined 70 percent of mainland outbound visitors in the first ten months of 2014.

The world tourism organization predicts that China will be the most popular travel destination on the planet within five years.