Overseas tourists continued to shun Beijing through 2013.
shun：避开，避免，回避
Amid rising
pollution and a strengthening yuan, the capital city saw its tourist numbers
drop to 4.20 million visits from January to November from 5.01 million visits in
2012, according to China Daily, citing a report from China Tourism Academy and
Beijing Commission of Tourism Development. An earlier report based on a survey
of domestic travel agents showed that visitors to the capital declined by
roughly 50% in the first three-quarters of the year compared with a year
earlier.
The number of inbound travelers to Beijing
grew after the city hosted the 2008 Olympics until 2012, when it saw a 3.8%
decline, followed by the further drop last year.
inbound：入境的，回内地的
The unexpected drop in 2013 came in spite of
new policies--such as the city‘s 72- hour visa waiver for transit
passengers--that were introduced in an attempt to nurture China‘s tourism
industry.
But only 14,000 tourists took advantage of
the visa-free stopover, according to the Beijing General Station of Exit and
Entry Frontier Inspection, well short of the 20,000 target officials had
previously predicted.
Jiang Yiyi, deputy director of
the Institute of International Tourism at the China Tourism Academy, attributed
part of the dropoff in foreign tourists to the strengthening
yuan.
deputy：代理的
In 2013, the yuan appreciated almost 3% against
the U.S. dollar, making ‘Beijing a more expensive destination than in the past,‘
Jiang Yiyi noted.
At the same time, she said, other
countries have seen their tourist numbers spike as the currencies
weaken.
‘While RMB is on the rise, currencies from
some of China‘s competitors for tourism, such as Japan, are depreciating,
meaning travel to some other Asian countries has been getting cheaper while
travel to China is becoming more costly,‘ Jiang Yiyi said.
depreciate：贬值，轻视
In 2013, the yen fell 21%
against the U.S. dollar, helping it to attract 10 million overseas
tourists--including, despite Sino-Japanese border disputes in the East China
Sea, many wealthy travelers from China.
The Beijing
Tourism Development Commission noted that the country‘s battle with pollution is
another obstacle cities face in attracting inbound
tourists.
Heavy air pollution from Beijing, which saw
its worst bout of smog in recent history in January, to Shanghai, where
pollution levels went off the charts in December, certainly don‘t do much to
help attract tourists.
China‘s tourism officials are
looking to reverse the trend of declining inbound visitors in 2014--possible,
experts say, if it revamps its outdated tour packages and lowers ticket
prices.
revamp：改进，修补
Jiang Yiyi at the China Tourism Academy suggests China adopt
a long-term national plan to improve the country‘s image and investment in
inbound tourism to attract more visitors.
Hopefully
the experts come up with a better plan than one that fell flat earlier this
year. The country‘s tourism body unveiled a ‘Beautiful China‘ logo in February
to market the country overseas, but the campaign was mocked for its contrast
with the many photos of China‘s not-so-beautiful cities shrouded in
pollution.
mock:欺骗 shroud：覆盖，笼罩
每日英语：Foreign Tourists Skip Beijing,布布扣,bubuko.com
每日英语：Foreign Tourists Skip Beijing
原文：http://www.cnblogs.com/yingying0907/p/3603469.html