BEIJING, February 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Tourism authorities have anticipated a bigger tourism market this year despite the depressed world tourism industry.

    In addition to the booming domestic market, the number of passengers traveling abroad is also set to grow rapidly, as the State Council recently approved 22 countries and regions as destinations for Chinese tourists, according to Monday's China Daily.

    The latest statistics from the National Tourism Administration indicate that tourism revenue last year reached 499.5 billion yuan (60.18 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 10.5 percent from that of last year.

    The revenue included foreign-currency earnings of 17.8 billion U.S. dollars from overseas tourists and 352.2 billion yuan (42.5 billion U.S. dollars) from domestic tourism.

    The Chinese mainland received 89 million overseas visitors last year, a growth of 6.7 percent from that of the previous year.

    Experts attributed the continued growth to the country's stable, safe situation and government's supportive policies including new visa policies, which permitting foreigners to visit Shanghai for up to two days or South China's Hainan Province for up to 15 days without Chinese visas.   Enditem