As Chinese people go further in their outbound tours, distant Africa has become a popular destination. In recent years, Chinese tourists to Africa increase rapidly. From Dec. 1 to Dec. 5, Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Zimbabwe and South Africa and attends the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, which according to tourism insiders will surely bring along more Chinese tourists to Africa.
The 2015 China Outbound Travel Development Report issued by China Tourism Academy shows that in 2014, Africa only accounted for 9.4 percent in China's outbound tourism. Although the absolute number of Chinese tourists is not many, the number of Chinese tourists to Africa enjoyed the fastest growth rate of 80.9 percent of all tourist destinations. Statistics from Aoyou.com of China CYTS shows that since 2010, the number of Chinese tourists to Africa has an average growth rate of over 50 percent every year.
Africa, with 54 countries, is rich in natural and tourist resources. Currently, Chinese tourists' destinations in Africa are limited to Egypt, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius and several other countries where the tourist projects and facilities are comparatively good. Other destinations in Africa are yet to be recognized by Chinese tourists.
Hanekom, Tourism Minister of South Africa, recently said at the opening ceremony of the direct flight between Beijing and Johannesburg that China is one of South Africa's important tourist source countries, and South Africa will provide more convenience to Chinese tourists. He hopes that more Chinese tourists will visit South Africa.