Please reference this paper as: Li, S.N.; Blake, A.; Cooper, C. (2010) "China's tourism in a global financial crisis: a computable general equilibrium approach", Current Issues in Tourism, 13(5): 435-453. This paper is for individual use. China’s tourism in a global financial crisis: a computable general equilibrium approach ShiNa Li a , Adam Blake b and Chris Cooper c Tourism is vulnerable to externalities such as natural disasters and man-made crises. The current global economic slowdown has adversely affected global tourism. While headline figures show that international tourism is suffering as a consequence of this economic crisis, domestic tourism is larger in many countries and impacts through this market could be larger than through international tourism. A common viewpoint is that an increase in domestic tourism could compensate a decline in inbound tourism, which supports the policy of focusing on the development of domestic tourism. This paper will test this viewpoint in the context of China’s tourism. This paper aims to evaluate the magnitude of economic impact of the economic slowdown on China’s tourism using computable general equilibrium modelling and then bring forward some policy suggestions on the development of China’s tourism. Keywords: China’s tourism; global economic crisis; economic impact; tourism policies; computable general equilibrium modelling Introduction The current global economic slowdown, caused by the 2008 global financial crisis, has adversely affected global tourism. The growth rate of the number of world tourist arrivals decreased by 5% in 2008 compared with 2007 and it is forecast that arrivals will continue to fall by 2 – 3% in 2009 (UNWTO, 2009a). China has one of the largest tourism markets in terms of inbound, outbound and domestic tourism. It is unlikely that any of these markets will escape from the impact of the global economic slowdown. For example, the growth rate of China’s inbound tourism receipts declined by more than 20% in 2008 compared with 2007 1 . One of the features of tourism is that it is vulnerable to external environmental factors such as natural disasters and man-made crises. Previous studies have showed great interest in evaluating the economic impact of crises on tourism and the responses of public and private tourism sectors. The majority of these studies have focused on the impact on inbound tourism and very few have examined the impacts on domestic tourism. This paper aims to evaluate the magnitude of economic impact of the economic slow- down on China’s tourism and to recommend some policy suggestions for the development