China's outbound tourism

"The People's Republic of China has changed from a country that discouraged tourism as a useless bourgeois activity into one of the major source markets for international tourism. In excess of 30 million Chinese travelled across the border in 2005, they are only the tip of the iceberg of the Chinese who have acquired the taste, money and freedom for international travel." "China's Outbound Tourism is the first book written about this major development using a multitude of sources from China and around the world. The topic is approached from many angles, using methods from the fields of economics, political sciences, sociology, semiotics and cross-cultural studies. The book explains the economic and social background of the surge in tourism in China and the changes in tourism policy in China since 1949, which moved from prevention through controlled development to possibly encouragement of outbound travels of Chinese citizens." "This book offers fresh insight into the fact that already one-quarter of all international tourists are coming from non-western countries and mainly from Asia. China's Outbound Tourism indicates some of the future lines of development in this area before concluding with a look into the future of tourism."--Jacket.