China’s tourism revenue in 2014 increased 14.7 percent from the previous year to over 3.38 trillion yuan (US$551 billion), state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Revenue from inbound tourism went up by 10.1 percent to US$56.9 billion last year, Xinhua quoted Du Jiang, Deputy Director of the Chinese National Tourism Administration, as saying in a meeting this week.

The country received 26.36 million overseas tourists in 2014, up by 0.27 percent.

Last year was the first time that the number of Chinese tourists travelling abroad topped the 100-million mark to reach 107 million, up by 19.5 percent from 2013.

Mr Du attributed the growth in the tourism sector to factors such as the global economic recovery, improved international airline capacity and favourable tourism policies.