SEAN GALLAGHER - Photographer in China | Beijing | Photography, Video & Multimedia from China and the World | Editorial | Corporate | Advertising

CHINA: Tourism in China

October 1st welcomes National Day in China, marking the anniversary of Mao Zedong's declaration of the official existence of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. On this one single day in 2006, 12 million tourists were estimated to have descended on Tiananmen Square and Beijing, where this historic declaration took place.

This however, is just a small fraction of what is now China’s booming tourism industry in the 21st Century. In 1996, 639 million domestic tourists were estimated to have travelled throughout the country. In 2004 that number rose to 1.1 billion, generating close to (US)$60 billion (5% of the country’s GDP), officially making China the world’s biggest domestic tourism market.

This recent increase has been fuelled by increased removals of travel restrictions on citizens, massive investment in travel infrastructure and a general rise in local incomes as China's economy continues to expand.

Focusing on tourism sites in and around Beijing, this series focuses on the chaotic and sometimes surreal nature of the frenetic growth of tourism in China.

The Badaling section of the Great Wall of China during 'Golden Week' national holidays.
   
Family at Tiananmen Square on National Day, October 1st.
   
Young couple outside the Forbidden City.
     
  
Playing basketball inside the Forbidden City.
   
Tourists at Tiananmen Square during 'Golden Week' national holidays.
   
Tourists pose for photos with Chinese soldiers on Tiananmen Square during 'Golden Week' national holidays.
     
  
Flying kites on Tiananmen Square.
   
Tourists on the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China during 'Golden Week' national holidays.
   
Tourists on the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China during 'Golden Week' national holidays.
     
  
A stall vendor on the Simatai section of the Great Wall of China.
   
Tourists on the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China during 'Golden Week' national holidays.
   
Tourists in front of the Mao Zedong portrait outside the Forbidden City on the Gate of Heavenly Peace.
     
  
Tourists at the ruins of the Old Summer Palace.
   
Tourists on Tiananmen Square.
   
Tourists at the Forbidden City.
     
  
Tourists outside the Forbidden City.
   
A tourist at the ruins of the Old Summer Palace.