Researches by the European Travel Commission (ETC) and ForwardKeys, a global travel data firm, reported that in the first four months of this year, Chinese arrivals in Europe were up 9.5 percent against the same period of last year, and up 7.9 percent for the May-August season.

When compared with the rest of the world, Europe is gaining in market share, as the comparable worldwide figures for Chinese arrivals were 6.9 percent up for the first four months and 6.2 percent up for May-August.

Tourism officials from eastern China’s Shandong province told Xinhua that in the first quarter of the year the province of over 100-million people saw 30 percent more trips to Europe.

More at Xinhua