Russian tourists in China surge in Jan.

After four years of decline, there was a huge increase in the number of Russian tourists visiting China in January, new figures show.

新数据显示，在四年的下降态势后，俄罗斯来华游客数量在今年1月出现了急剧上涨。

In total, 144,200 Russians visited in the first month of 2016 – up 46.9 percent on the same period last year, according to a recent report released by the China Tourism Academy, a think tank under the China National Tourism Administration.

据中国国家旅游局下属智库中国旅游研究院发布的数据，今年1月，有14.42万俄罗斯游客到访中国，比2015年同期多出46.9%。

Russia is the fifth-largest source market for China's tourism industry after the United States, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea, but over the past few years a weak ruble has dampened Russians' enthusiasm for travel abroad.

俄罗斯是继美国、越南、日本和韩国之后的，中国旅游业第五大客源国，但在过去的几年里，由于卢布疲软，俄罗斯人出国旅游的热情不高。

Last year alone, the number of Russian tourists in China was down 22.7 percent year-on-year, according to the report

据报道，仅去年，俄罗斯来华游客数量同比下降了22.7%。

Xu Xiaolei, a spokesman for China Youth Travel Service, said the growth in Russian tourists this winter was not surprising, but it was still too early to predict a trend for the rest of the year.

中国青年旅行社发言人徐小磊指出，今年冬天俄罗斯游客人数的增多并不意外，不过，现在就预测一整年的俄罗斯客流量还为时过早。

"Many Russian tourists chose to spend the bitter winter in warm Hainan province. And to avoid the peak season of Chinese New Year, many booked their trips to China in January," Xu said. "Tourism watchdogs have also been tightening the regulation of Hainan's tourism products. Compared with the sky-high hotel prices last year, prices in Hainan are relatively low this year. This has also helped to attract more Russian tourists."

他说，"很多俄罗斯游客选择到中国温暖的海南省御寒，并且，为了避开中国春节的客流高峰，很多人预订的是1月的线路。旅游监管部门也对海南省的旅游业加强了监管，与去年的天价酒店相比，海南省今年的酒店价格较低，这也吸引了更多的俄罗斯游客。 "

Xu said he expected the overall inbound tourism industry to maintain its pace of growth this year, after the number of inbound visits in January increased by 1.7 percent year-on-year to 11.1 million, according to the China Tourism Academy report. The China National Tourism Administration expects more than 137 million overseas tourists to visit China this year, an increase of 2.5 percent on the previous year.

据中国旅游研究院数据，1月份入境游为1110万人次，比去年同期上涨了1.7%.徐说，他期待今年的入境游能保持这个上升势头。今年，中国国家旅游局期待到中国的海外游客数量超过1.37亿次，比去年上升2.5%。

According to its development goal for 2016, as set at the annual work meeting on Jan 29, international tourism revenue is also forecast to increase by 6.5 percent, reaching $121 billion. If this happens, it will be the second consecutive year of growth for China's inbound tourism market following a period of decline from 2011 to 2014.

根据在1月29日的年度工作会议上定下的2016年发展目标，预计国际旅游收入将上涨6.5%，达到1210亿美元。如果这个目标能实现，这将是自2011到2014年连续四年的下降之后，入境游的第二年连续上涨。

Li Shihong, deputy head of the administration, said second- and third-tier cities and small towns would play a leading role in attracting overseas tourists – highlighting Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, Yueyang, Hunan province and Tongli, Jiangsu province as examples.

国家旅游局副局长李世宏表示，二、三线城市和一些小城镇将更吸引海外游客，比如浙江的乌镇、湖南的岳阳和江苏的同里等。

"Second- and third-tier cities and small towns have unique cultural symbols, beautiful landscapes and have preserved history" better than modern cities, Li said. "All these are attractive factors for frequent visitors to China."

他说，"二三线城市有比大都市更独特的文化特色，更美丽的人文地貌和保存更完好的历史。对于那些常来中国旅游的人来说，这些因素更具吸引力。"

"Besides, the high-speed railway network has connected small towns and made them more accessible than ever before. It is a great time for them to develop their inbound tourism industry."

"此外，发达的高铁系统连接了这些小城镇，使得它们比以前更便捷。现在正是他们大力发展旅游业的好时机。"