A booming tourism industry in China will be a blessing, not only for China's economy, but also for the global economy as a whole.

China celebrated its first National Tourism Day on Thursday, which demonstrates China's strong desire to tap the huge potential of its tourist market and is a concrete step toward expanding domestic consumption.

The move is particularly important at a time when China is seeking ways to effectively boost its long-depressed domestic demand to help extricate the country from its longtime dependence on investment and exports to fuel sustainable growth.

Related readings:  Tourism is still a luxury for many   China inaugurates National Tourism Day  Most Chinese spend 1st Tourism Day at work  China resumes tourism to Japan after quake

Along with its huge population and vast land with different geographical features, China also boasts a millenniums-old civilization in which numerous historical and cultural relics have been preserved from dozens of dynasties, which is conducive to the further development of its tourism industry.

In 2010, the country's total tourist revenues totaled 1.57 trillion yuan ($241.3 billion), an increase of 21.7 percent year-on-year, according to the National Tourism Administration.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association, one of the world's three main tourism organizations headquartered in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, estimated in April that China's inbound travel visits would be near 100 million in 2015 and domestic travel visits would be 3.3 billion.

By that time, it estimated, China would become the world's largest tourist destination. A report released earlier by the Boston Consulting Group predicts that China will surpass Japan to become the world's second largest tourist market by 2013, holding 8 percent of the global tourist market share.

Undoubtedly the increasing importance attached to the tourism industry from the State level will make China better prepared for the upcoming tourist boom.

It is expected that the country's tourist facilities and service awareness, as well as its cultivation of more well-educated specialized tourist staff members will get a big boost following the establishment of the National Tourism Day and subsequent publicity and promotion activities throughout the country.

While spurring domestic tourist development, a flourishing domestic tourist market and increased tourist awareness among Chinese people, together with their swelling pockets, will also inspire more and more Chinese to go abroad for travel purposes.

Statistics from the National Tourism Administration show that China's outbound visits in 2010 reached 54 million, with a per capita spending of $480, half of which was estimated to be spent on purchasing foreign commodities, mostly luxury ones.

Porsche, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, once regarded as symbols of bourgeois Western society decades ago, are no longer strangers to many Chinese people today.

Our fellow citizens can even out buy their Western counterparts when they put their hands in their pockets for these international luxury brands.

Chinese tourists' spending will play an increasingly important role in helping the economic recovery of destination countries apart from driving sustainable growth at home.

(China Daily 05/20/2011 page8)