BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Trips between China and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative are expected to exceed 85 million by 2020, a think tank predicted.
Trips made by Chinese tourists to those countries grew from 15.49 million in 2013 to 27.41 million in 2017, a 77 percent jump over the past five years, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Chinese tourists contributed about 31 percent of the international tourism revenue in those countries in 2017, which stood at about 385.1 billion U.S. dollars.
Meanwhile, China recorded 10.64 million trips made by tourists from B&R countries in 2017, compared with 9.03 million in 2013, the report showed.
The report attributed the robust tourism market to relaxed visa policies, new flights and other facilitating policies thanks to the development of the initiative.
