GENEVA, May 1 (Xinhua) -- China's tourism sector has a positive outlook and is anticipated to contribute further to the global travel and tourism market, Julia Simpson, president and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), has said.

In a recent virtual interview with Xinhua, Simpson said she is "very optimistic about China because the country is making all the right moves."

"We've seen the Chinese government launching a new visa regime to better welcome foreign visitors. That is going to help a lot. China has done so well after the pandemic," she said.

The WTTC predicts strong growth for global travel and tourism this year, driven by China's rebound.

According to the WTTC's 2025 Economic Impact Research report, international visitor spending is expected to reach a record 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2025, up by 164 billion dollars from the previous high of 1.9 trillion dollars in 2019.

In 2025, travel and tourism are projected to contribute an all-time high of 11.7 trillion dollars to the global economy, accounting for 10.3 percent of global GDP, the report said, adding that international spending by visitors to China surpassed the pre-pandemic level last year.

"I'm very confident that the Chinese market, after a period of a little bit of calm, is going to find its feet again," said Simpson.

"The reason I'm quite confident about the 2025 numbers is they're already baked in. Most people have already planned and even paid for their big annual holidays. There are a lot of business conferences taking place. We need to just wait and see, rather than start making predictions," she said.

Looking ahead, the WTTC forecasts that by 2035, travel and tourism will inject 16.5 trillion dollars into the global economy, accounting for 11.5 percent of global GDP. Simpson said that this outlook has taken into account the partial impact of U.S. tariff measures on global tourism.

"When we did these numbers with Oxford Economics, we already took into account a degree of the impact of tariffs," she said. ■