As the world's second-largest economy with a population of more than 1.3 billion, China has made significant contributions to the development of world tourism in recent years, a senior official of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said.

The UNWTO recorded 1.32 billion international tourist arrivals in 2017, and that strong momentum is expected to continue this year.

In an exclusive interview with the Xinhua News Agency, Zhu Shanzhong, executive director of the Madrid-based UNWTO, said that the organization has attached great importance to China's tourism market and global tourism could not have enjoyed such remarkable development without the Chinese outbound market.

Buoyed by rising incomes and easier visa processes, China's outbound travel hit another record last year with 130 million overseas trips and USD 115.29 billion in spending. This means that the Chinese market last year had a 7% jump in overseas trips and a 5% rise in overseas spending over 2016, he said.

Chinese tourists are visiting destinations as far away as Africa, he said, adding that Europe and the Asia-Pacific region have benefited from this large number of Chinese tourists in recent years. For example, Germany alone received more than 10 million Chinese tourists last year.

The Asia-Pacific region has the advantage of being near, he said.

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