Chinese citizens made 1bn domestic trips in the first half of 2009, up 11.7 per cent year-on-year, according to a survey by the State Administration of Tourism. The growth was 5.4 percentage points higher than that of the whole of 2008.

However inbound trips fell 4.4 per cent to 62.06m in the first six months, impacted by the global economic downturn and the spread of the swine flu virus. Chinese citizens made 22.55m overseas trips in the first half, up 1.1 per cent year-on-year.