As of December 31, 2020, China had a total number of 40,682 travel agencies, up by 4.47% year on year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Except for Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces in northeastern China, all regions had seen an increase in the number of travel agencies. Southern island province Hainan registered the biggest increase, at 24.2%, followed by Xinjiang, Hunan, Guizhou and Gansu. Guangdong had 3,390 travel agencies, the largest number among all provinces. Other regions that had more than 2,000 agencies included Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong.
Operating highlights
Reported operating revenue of the Chinese travel agencies approached RMB 239 billion (USD 36.7 billion) in 2020. Reported net loss totaled RMB 7.2 billion (USD 110.6 million). Operating revenue of travel-related businesses totaled RMB 137.5 billion (USD 2.1 billion), and the operating income was RMB 327 million (USD 7.7 million).
Domestic travel revenue for 2020 was RMB 119.4 billion (USD 18.33 billion), accounting for 86.9% of the total travel-related revenues. Operating income was RMB 265 million (USD 6.3 million) or 80.9% of the total revenues.
Inbound and outbound travel revenues of the year were RMB 1.6 billion (USD 246 million) and RMB 16.4 billion (USD 2.5 billion) respectively. Total operating income of inbound and outbound travel was RMB 62 million (USD 9.5 million).
Organized and handled tours
1. Domestic tours
The data showed that the domestic tours organized by the travel agencies had drawn 57.73 million travelers last year, and the total number of domestic tourists handled was 75.16 million.
The top 10 popular destinations for organized domestic tours in 2020 were Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Hunan, Chongqing, Hubei, Fujian, Shanghai, Sichuan and Shaanxi.
In terms of domestic trips handled, the top 10 destinations were Zhejiang, Hubei, Jiangsu, Hainan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Hunan, Yunnan, Anhui and Fujian.
2. Inbound tours
The inbound tours organized by the travel agencies had drawn 4.13 million travelers for the full year of 2020, and the total number of inbound travelers handled was 6.62 million.
The top 10 source markets for organized inbound trips in 2020 were Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Thailand, Singapore, the U.S. and Malaysia.
In terms of inbound trips handled, the top 10 source markets were Hong Kong, South Korea, Macau, Taiwan, Russia, Japan, the U.S., Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.
3. Outbound tours
The outbound tours organized by the travel agencies had drawn 34.14 million travelers for the full year of 2020.
The top 10 popular destinations for organized outbound tours in 2020 were Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Macau, South Korea and Australia.
In 2020, organized domestic tours had drawn the most tourists, accounting for 94% of the total number of tourists, followed by outbound trips (5%) and inbound trips (1%).
Operating performance by regions
The top 10 destinations for organized and handled trips were Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Fujian, Beijing, Hunan, Shandong, Shaanxi and Sichuan.
The top 10 destinations with the best operating performance were Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Tianjin and Beijing.
