ABSTRACT
One major and very visible development after China’s opening was the expansion of tourism. Tourism had been possible since the late 1970s but only by a small number of organised tour groups and with considerable restrictions on the areas that could be visited. This changed year by year during the 1980s and tour groups from Japan, overseas Chinese communities and the West could be observed regularly in many parts of China. Individual tourism also developed and it suddenly became possible to visit China as an independent traveller and to book hotels and hire cars (with drivers) as in most other countries. The growth of tourism was assisted by the building of luxury joint-venture hotels in the main tourist centres and by improvements in transport but mostly by changes in the offi cial attitude towards foreigners who wished to travel independently and off the beaten track. At fi rst this was done within the concept of the group tour booking with the individual bizarrely treated as a group of one.
