CHINA is to become the world´s top tourist destination outdoing France by the year 2020

Francesco Frangialli, WTO secretary-general, said China will achieve a historic transformation, becoming not only a huge Asian tourist nation but a giant among the world´s tourism leaders in the next two decades.

China reiterated Frangialli´s statement made at the opening ceremony of the WTO´s 15th general assembly currently ongoing in Beijing until Thursday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the tourism industry is new but truly dynamics part of the economy of China, and it will become a pillar industry by 2020.

The figures show that China is on pace to meet this projection.

In August, the number if Chinese outbound travelers reached 2.1 million, increasing by 34.5 percent compared with the same period last year.

From January to August, the total number of Chinese outbound travelers was 11.8 million, with an increase of 15 percent from the previous year.

According the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA)´s projections, inbound arrivals to China will reach 210 million within the next two decades, and the total tourist income will be approximately US$302 billion, which is 8 to 11 percent of China´s gross domestic product.