[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China has continued to rank second in overall tourism revenue, after the United States, annually over the 2012-19 period, according to a world-tourism-economy report released by the Beijing-based World Tourism Cities Federation and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Tourism Research Center on January 16.

The total number of tourist visits globally reached 12.1 billion in 2018, up 5 percent year-on-year, the report shows. Global tourism income hit $5.34 trillion last year, accounting for 6.1 percent of global GDP, a decrease of 0.4 percent over the previous year.

Europe, the Americas and the Asia-Pacific dominate the global tourism market. The top 10 international destinations are all in these regions, the report says.

The Asia-Pacific’s tourism investment scale is the highest among regions, and its growth rate is second, after the Middle East.

The report estimates the number of global tourists will reach 12.76 billion in 2019, with a growth rate of 5.5 percent, and total global tourism revenue will reach $5.54 trillion, accounting for 6 percent of global GDP.