Due to rising pollution and a strengthening yuan, Beijing saw its tourist numbers drop to 4.20 million visits from January to November in 2013 from 5.01 million visits in 2012.
The number of overseas travelers to Beijing grew after the city hosted the 2008 Olympics until 2012, when it saw a 3.8% 1 , followed by the further drop last year. The unexpected drop in 2013 came 2 new policies introduced in a (n) 3 to support China"s tourism industry. But only 14,000 tourists 4 the visa-free stopover, according to the Beijing General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, well short of the 20,000 target officials had 5 predicted.
Jiang Yiyi, deputy director of the Institute of International Tourism at the China Tourism Acade-my, 6 part of the drop-off in foreign tourists to the strengthening yuan.
In 2013, the yuan increased almost 3% against the U.S. dollar, making "Beijing a more expensive 7 than in the past", Jiang Yiyi noted. "At the same time," she said, "other countries have seen their tourist numbers grow as the currencies 8 . While RMB is on the rise, currencies from some of China"s 9 for tourism, such as Japan, are depreciating, meaning travel to some other Asian countries has been getting cheaper while travel to China is becoming more expensive," Jiang Yiyi said.
In 2013, the Japanese yen fell 21% against the U. S. dollar, 10 10 million overseas tourists.
The Beijing Tourism Development Commission noted that the country"s battle with pollution is another 11 cities face in attracting overseas tourists.
Heavy air pollution from Beijing to Shanghai, where pollution levels went off the charts in December, 12 don"t do much to help attract tourists. China"s tourism officials are expecting to 13 the trend of declining overseas visitors in 2014—possible, experts say, if it 14 its outdated tour packages and lowers ticket prices.
Jiang Yiyi at the China Tourism Academy suggests China adopt a long-term national plan to 15 the country"s image and investment in overseas tourism to attract more visitors.