ABSTRACT
It can be seen from the statistics (Fig. 1) of inbound stay-overnight tourists (tourists from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and foreign countries) received from 2007 to 2013 in Jiangmen that the number of inbound stay-overnight tourists in Jiangmen maintained a steady growth, with an annual average growth rate of 23.45%. Tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have always been the main body of the inbound tourist market, and its proportion always remains above 84%. As for the total number, tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan received in Jiangmen increased from 514,700 in 2007 to
1 INTRODUCTION
Inbound tourism is a significant constituent part of the tourist industry, playing a vital role in improving the quality of tourist industry, adjusting the structure of tourist industry, increasing the foreign currency earnings and enhancing the international exchange[1]. With the development of economic globalization, people’s life quality and cultural level keeps improving constantly, and the diversification, individuation and internationalization of tourism demand tendency grows more and more evident. Moreover, the inbound tourism market also displays strong vitality. According to the Tourism Spotlight in 2013 released by World Tourism Organization, in the past six decades, the international tourism developed vigorously, and tourists reached an unprecedented scale. The number of international tourists throughout the world increased to 278 million in 1980, 528 million in 1995, till the 1,035 million in 2012, which was 40.4 times of the number in 1950 with an annual growth of 6.4%. According to the Statistical Report of World Tourism in 2013 released by UNWTO, even when the global economy was stagnant, the international tourists in 2013 still increased by 5%, when compared to the 2012, reaching 1.087 billion. Moreover, it is estimated that the number of international tourists in 2014 will keep increasing by 4% to 4.5%. Furthermore, China has kept its status as the third largest inbound tourist destination since 2010. Considering the increasingly flourishing international tourist market, coastal tourist areas in China propose measures of constructing international coastal tourist attraction, and the correct analysis and anticipation of inbound tourists is a significant premise of the healthy development
1,398,400 in 2012, increased by 1.87 times. Seen from the growth rate, the number of tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan has always been in stable growth trend, in which the growth rate in 2008 was the highest, about 87.03%, but it grew slowly in 2009 and 2010 due to external factors. In 2011, the inbound tourism market revived, receiving 1,256,200 tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, increased by 30.04% when compared with the number in 2008. In 2012, it received 13,984 tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, suggesting the recovery of the normal development track.
