Chinese travellers lead Asian tourism spending to new record

Growing arrivals from the Middle Kingdom have fuelled double-digit annual rises in visitor receipts in popular cities, as expanding air routes make trips more cost-effective.

随着空中航线增多让旅行变得更划算，中国游客不断增多，推动一些亚洲热门城市的年度游客接待量实现了两位数增长。

Asian cities accounted for half the top 10 most popular overnight visitor destinations worldwide, according to a report published by MasterCard on Wednesday. Individuals’ spending in Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo has increased by compound annual rates of at least 9.7 per cent over the past six years, even if their fortunes varied last year.

万事达周三发布的一份报告显示，在全球十大最受欢迎的旅游目的地里，亚洲城市占了一半。过去6年里，游客在曼谷、新加坡、首尔、台北和东京的人均支出复合年增长率起码为9.7%，尽管去年他们的财富状况发生了变化。

China is providing the impetus throughout, with visitor numbers to its old enemy Japan climbing more than three-quarters last year. Spending across the region is also being lifted by shopping mall developments and the rise of niche sub-industries, such as health tourism in Singapore and halal tourism in Malaysia.

这6年里，中国始终是这一趋势的推动力量，去年前往宿敌日本的中国游客增加了逾四分之三。中国游客在亚洲地区支出的增多，部分也因大型购物中心的发展以及一些小众旅游市场的崛起——比如新加坡的健康游和马来西亚的清真美食游。

Mainland Chinese tourist arrivals in Thailand in March more than doubled year on year to almost 680,000, according to government statistics, also taking them far past their pre-troubles 2013 level. China and other Asian countries accounted for almost two-thirds of total tourist visitors to Thailand in March, up from just over 50 per cent last year, while Europe’s share fell from 32 per cent to 21 per cent.

泰国政府统计数据显示，今年3月前往该国的中国大陆游客同比增加了一倍多，达到近68万人次，也远远超过该国局势动荡之前的2013年的水平。3月，中国和其他亚洲游客几乎占到前往泰国的游客总量的三分之二，超过去年略高于二分之一的水平，而欧洲游客的比例从32%降到了21%。