An Interregional Model of Foreign Tourism in China

This paper analyses the distribution of foreign tourism in China for the years 1999 and 2000, and shows the high degree of concentration in some coastal regions. The positive trend in the number of foreign tourism arrivals implies important possibilities for the increase of tourism activities also in other interesting areas of the country. An econometric model relates the number of arrivals in year 2000 with its lagged value, the number of hotels and some dummy variables related with airport entrance and the coastal situation, showing the positive and significant effect of the explanatory variables.