Chinese tourists made 97.3 million overseas trips in 2013, the country's top tourism official said on Jan. 6, estimating that an unprecedented 100 million outbound trips will be undertaken in 2014.

According to Shao Qiwei, head of China's National Tourism Administration, China's tourism industry made an estimated 2.9 trillion yuan (US$479.37 billion) of revenue in 2013, up 11.97 percent year-on-year.

Chinese tourists made 3.25 billion domestic trips last year, and the inbound travel market reported 2.54 trillion yuan (US$419.86 billion) in revenue.

In 2014, the revenue of Chinese tourism companies is expected to reach 3.19 trillion yuan (US$527.31 billion), an annual increase of 11 percent, Shao said during a national conference on tourism.

The meeting also set other targets for the Chinese tourism industry this year, such as the number of domestic tourists reaching 3.58 billion, up 10 percent year-on-year; domestic trips revenue hitting 2.85 trillion yuan (US$471.11 billion), up 12 percent annually; overseas tourists reaching 110 million, up 13 percent and foreign exchange earnings from tourism topping US$49.2 billion, up 3 percent year-on-year.

Shao said that after China's first law on tourism came into effect in October 2013, the quality of organized trips has improved, and the country plans to allow foreign-funded travel agencies to operate outbound trips for Chinese citizens in 2014.

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