International influences of outbound tourism from China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France：Spatiotemporal analysis based on economic perspective

Abstract

Since 2000, the rapid rise of China’s outbound tourism has produced huge international influence. Based on a conceptual model of outbound tourism’s international influence, this study used 2005- 2016 international statistical data and took China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France as the research object to compare the changes and spatial differences of outbound tourism influence between the five countries. We examined the three dimensions of outbound tourism scale, growth potential, and influence scope, with market share, growth contribution, destination diversity, and average travel radius as indicators. The results show that: With the sustained high growth of the economy, China’s outbound tourism market share and growth contribution have surpassed France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, which has had a great impact on world and destination tourism. However, due to the low per capita disposable income, China’s outbound tourism was far behind the United States and the United Kingdom in destination diversity and average travel radius. Influenced by economic strength, distance attenuation, cultural identity, and economic and trade ties, the United States and the United Kingdom outbound tourism had the greatest influence; the influence of China’s outbound tourism was mainly concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, and it also had a greater impact on Europe and North America compared to the rest of the world. Outbound tourism of Germany and France was mainly limited to Europe. China should vigorously develop outbound tourism, increase the import of service trade, balance international trade, reduce trade friction, and use the international influence of outbound tourism to create a favorable international environment and safeguard national interests.