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Anyone who has been in a tourist sites such as the Forbidden City in the high September and October season won’t have much trouble believing that China is well on its way to becoming the world biggest tourist destination!

First posted in Xinhua: “SANYA, Hainan, March 21 (Xinhua) — A senior official with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said Sunday China is expected to become the world’s largest tourist destination by 2015.

“China, as we predict, is going to become the world’s No. 1 tourist destination by the year 2015,” said Taleb Rifai, secretary general of the UNWTO.

“China is almost there. It is now the world’s fourth largest destination when it comes to incoming tourists, and the rates of growth are moving so quickly that we think this is a realistic target,” Rifai said.

France is currently the country receiving the most international tourists, at 80 million per year, followed by the United States and Spain, both at 60 million a year, while China has about 48 million, he said.

“China’s tourism economy has moved incredibly in the last ten years. The number of incoming tourists rose from 8 million to 48 million. The potential of the growth is still big because of the size of China,” Rifai said.”

The photo below is one from the archives of the Summer Palace during National Day holidays in the late 1990s.

Hard to believe it has almost been a week since China’s 60th birthday party. Photos and videos continue to be published on the web and here are some links to the best we have found.

Boston Big Picture: “China formally kicked off its mass celebrations of 60 years of communist rule with a 60-gun salute that rung out across Beijing’s historic Tiananmen Square earlier today. Hundreds of thousands of participants marched past Tiananmen Square in costume or uniform, with floats and dancers mingling with soldiers and military hardware. Collected here are photographs of the once-in-a-decade National Day parade in Beijing, and of others commemorating the anniversary elsewhere. (39 photos total)”

Surviving Beijing since 1980: “See here more pics, coming from several sources (our foreign participants – thanks, China Daily etc.). As indicated in the names, there are still some from the rehearsal on 18/19 Sept.”

And then my favourite – this video by Dan Chung, hat tip to Lostlaowai:

China’s 60th Anniversary national day – timelapse and slow motion – 7D and 5DmkII from Dan Chung on Vimeo.

As the build up to October 1st continues the Beijinger has several posts worth a look starting with this one about the lengths soldiers go to perfect their posture… Ouch – no falling asleep on the job there.

One of the things you never see over Beijing are aircraft. Well, here is a set of photos of the planes practicing for a fly by on October 1st. The comments below are a good example of expat humour with regard to all the restrictions in the city in the run up to the parade.

Lastly, on a more serious note, if you happen to be flying into Beijing on the morning of October it seems you won’t be.

Good luck!

A great set of photos from The Big Picture showing the preparations for the upcoming National Day Parade.

Well, you can’t have big public parade without a few rehearsals and it is even harder to hide those from public view. A few links here to a taste of what will be coming through a street near you in Beijing on October 1st.

Hat tip to Troy at Fortune Unmasked.

Military parade video

Night time practice

Any my favourite…

And if you are wondering what all this is about here are some photos from past national days in Tiananmen square:

According to the China Daily Beijing is preparing to manipulate the weather to ensure that it does not rain on its National Day parade on Oct 1.

September and October traditionally have the best weather of the year in China’s northern capital but no chances are being taken with this National day which also happens to be the 60th anniversary of New China. Big military parades in the rain do not make great TV it seems.

So, if you happen to be traveling in Beijing on the 1st Of October it’s a great day to sight see except that you probably won’t be able to move or go anywhere with all the security lock downs promised.

I won’t be there for this national day but here are some photos from the last big one – the 50th anniversary way back in 1999 (the photo on the right was NOT the military parade that year!)