More Chinese tourists dying in crashes on foreign roads
Beijing expresses concern at rising Chinese toll in holiday accidents as requests for consular help climbs by more than 40 per cent in one year
Beijing is "gravely concerned" about the growing number of Chinese tourists involved in fatal road accidents while on holiday abroad as the number of emergency calls for assistance to China's embassies and consulates worldwide jumped 40 per cent last year.
According to figures obtained by the Sunday Morning Post, the Centre for Consular Assistance and Protection, a unit within Beijing's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, handled 59,000 requests for assistance in 2014, up 40.47 per cent from 2013.
The increase comes as mainland China cements its position as the largest outbound market for tourists, a position it has held since 2012 and that continues to increase, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation.
"As more Chinese citizens have travelled abroad in recent years, more of them have sought consular protection and assistance," a spokesman for the foreign ministry said.
"Of such cases, those resulting in deaths or injuries caused by Chinese travellers driving abroad have been increasing in recent years. The Chinese government is gravely concerned about the safety - including traffic safety in particular - of Chinese citizens travelling abroad."
More Hong Kong travellers are also asking for help while abroad. Last year, there were 2,068 requests for help to the Immigration Department's hotline, up 4.3 per cent from 2013. Most were about lost travel documents followed by cases of illness or death.
Last year, mainland Chinese tourists made about 109 million trips overseas, up 11.22 per cent from 2013. In 2000, Chinese tourists made just 10 million trips abroad, according to UN figures.