City Scene: Are Foreign Travelers Losing Interest in China?

City Scene is a regular feature in the Beijinger magazine in which we take a more sobering look at some surprising statistics. This month, we wonder if the exotic allure of China has finally lost its lustre as we examine the following data:

Tourist arrivals in 2013 were down 10.3 percent year on year, bad news for Beijing businesses and tourism officials.

Perhaps even worse, Beijing's 72-hour visa waiver program also fell short of expectations, receiving only 14,000 arrivals as compared to the anticipated 20,000.

Tourist arrivals in China as a whole were only down 2.5 percent, making Beijing’s performance look even worse.

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