Beijing named world's fourth fastest-growing tourist destination

The Forbidden City might get even more crowded, if that's possible

Hold onto your bumbags and get ready for a new crush of people: looks like Tiananmen Square is about to get a lot more crowded. Beijing was just ranked the fourth fastest-growing tourism destination in the world – just behind Chongqing, Guangzhou and Shanghai – according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.

Asian cities took all ten top spots in the rankings this year, mostly due to continued rapid growth in domestic tourism. Beijing's industry grew by 12 percent this year, while Chongqing's grew by a whopping 14 percent, although only about 10 percent of Chongqing's tourists came from overseas, compared to over 20 percent who came from abroad to Beijing. In addition, Beijing has the second largest GDP tourism contribution in the world just after Shanghai, with a whopping 29 billion USD injected into the local economy annually. Shanghai and Beijing alone account for 21 percent of China's travel and tourism GDP.

With the world average growth rate at 4 percent per year, and Asia Pacific at 5.8 percent, Beijing's significantly outperforming both the regional and global average.

Here is the full list of tourism cities that are expected to grow the most in the next decade:

1. Chongqing, China (14 percent)

2. Guangzhou, China (13.1 percent)

3. Shanghai, China (12.8 percent)

4. Beijing, China (12 percent)

5. Chengdu, China (11.2 percent)

6. Manila, Philippines (10.9 percent)

7. Delhi, India (10.8 percent)

8. Shenzhen, China (10.7 percent)

9. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (10.1 percent)

10. Jakarta, Indonesia (10 percent)

To read about Beijing sinking due to over-population, hit '阅读原文'.

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