Due to the reduction in the number of tourists visiting China, the salaries of travel agency employees have also been affected. Because of the financial crisis, foreign tourists have also cut back on their spending for overseas travel. As a result, in September, there was a rare decline in the number of inbound tourists to our country. Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration, Deng Zongde: This is mainly because our country experienced a freeze disaster in the first half of the year, and then the Wenchuan earthquake occurred in May. Now, the whole world is affected by the US subprime crisis, so the number of inbound tourists has significantly decreased.
The manager of the marketing department of China康Hui Travel Agency Group, Zhang Qingzhu, said that many foreign tourists have tightened their budgets, so now instead of increasing, the number of inbound tourists is actually decreasing.
Zhang Qingzhu further explained that employees' salaries are linked to performance, so wages have been affected and are not as good as in previous years.
Reporters visited several travel agencies in Beijing and found that the months of September and October are usually the peak season for inbound tourism. However, this year's situation is an exception. After the Olympics, Kanghui Travel Agency expected a surge in the inbound tourism market, but the reality turned out to be much worse than anticipated. Not only has the number of overseas tour groups received greatly reduced, but even individual travelers on self-guided tours have almost disappeared.
According to data from the National Tourism Administration, from January to September this year, the number of inbound tourists to China fell by 0.37% compared to the same period last year. In September, the number of inbound tourists further declined, falling by 5.94% year-on-year, while tourism foreign exchange revenue dropped by 11.4% compared to the same period last year.