SHANGHAI : China's travel industry expects 2009 to be a tough year as the global economy heads south and people spend less.

Even the figures for 2008 were less than stellar despite the successful hosting of the Beijing Olympics.

According to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), visitors to the country dropped by 6 per cent this year compared to 2007. Tourism revenue shrank by 11 per cent to US$3.14 billion in September.

"Tourism is an industry that is easily affected and directly influenced by the economic slowdown. CNTA estimates that 2009 will be a tough year for China's tourism industry, especially inbound travels," said Zhu Shan Zhong, director general of Marketing & Communications at China National Tourism Administration.

But there is hope for the industry, as more Chinese travel out of China. So officials are looking at domestic and regional travel to boost tourism revenue.

Outbound travel hit a new high this year, with more than 34 million Chinese travelling overseas, up almost 15 per cent from the same period last year.

The Singapore Tourism Board, for one, is rolling out two more campaigns to take advantage of this.

"There's this Uniquely Weekend campaign, where one can go to Singapore on a Friday and come back on a Monday. We are working with the ground handlers, travel agents to come up with something attractive for them to spend three nights in Singapore," said Edward Koh, Chief Representative, Regional Director Greater China, Singapore Tourism Board.

"The second is our one plus one - we call it Uniquely One Plus One package. It's Singapore plus an island - (for example) Singapore plus Bintan, or Singapore plus Batam. It's one trip overseas but you get to go to two countries," he added.

And showing it is serious about wooing the Chinese tourists is Resorts World Sentosa, whose integrated resort will be ready in 2010.

Liang Wern Ling, assistant VP of Sales & Marketing at Resorts World Sentosa said: "We are going big to attract our Chinese audience... For example, we'll have major signages in Chinese, all our brochures in Chinese, two Chinese language website - simplified and traditional Chinese. All these show that we are trying our best to attract the Chinese." - CNA /ls