采用1996~2005年入境游客旅游消费的截面数据,通过构建评价表征指数,对中国入境游客消费变动以及区域差异进行实证分析。结果表明,在过去10年,入境旅游人均消费水平显著增加,但仍属于滞后性消费。旅游消费结构"九五"期间有较大变动,"十五"后趋于稳定合理。从入境旅游消费区域差异看,相对于区域旅游外汇收入,入境游客区域差异变动和消费结构呈现稳定状态;但是相对于旅游外汇收入水平,接待境外游客较多的地区恰恰也是人均消费水平相对偏低的地区,这些地区近10年来入境旅游外汇收入增长的主要助推因素仍主要来自接待入境游客规模的整体扩张,游客消费水平并没有质的提高。因此,塑造和完善旅游消费体系和保障体系,营造宽松的旅游消费环境,通过旅游产品供给结构优化调整来促进旅游消费质量的提档升级,将是实现入境旅游发展由数量扩张型向质量效益型战略转型的关键所在。

Inbound tourism is an important channel for one country (or region) to earn foreign exchange and to solve the employment. The number of inbound tourists and foreign exchange earnings is a main indicator of the country's (region's) tourism development level, while the inbound tourists' tourism consumption level and consumption structure is an important basis to reflect the quality of inbound tourism consumption. This paper takes the cross-section data of inbound tourists' tourism consumption from 1996 to 2005,constructs a series of the characterization indexes and takes an empirical analysis on the changes and the regional differences of the inbound tourists' tourism consumption. The result shows that in the past 10 years, per capita consumption level of inbound tourism has significantly increased, but the consumption is still lagging behind. Chinese inbound tourism consumption structure in "The Ninth 5-year Plan" has more changes,while after "The Tenth 5-year Plan" it goes stable and rational. From the regional differences of per capita consumption, compared with the regional tourism foreign exchange earnings, in the consumption structure of inbound tourists,all kinds of expenditures have shown a steady state, with uneven levels decreased over time. But compared to the level of foreign exchange earnings of tourism, the areas of hosting the more foreign tourists are low in the level of per capita consumption, where the growth of inbound tourists was more dependent on the overall expansion. So,the research conclusion has an important realistic significance to the development of the regional inbound tourism. The research shows that Chinese inbound tourism is still in a large-scale expansion phase. Owing to the effects of consumer inertia, the future increase in tourism consumption level and consumption structure optimization is still faced with many difficult tasks. Therefore, the shaping and improvement of tourism consumption systems and security system will create a relaxed environment for tourism consumption and the optimal adjustment of the tourism products' supply structure will promote the quality of tourism consumption,which will achieve the level of inbound tourism consumption and the simultaneous development of inbound tourism,and achieve inbound tourism development from quantity expansion to quality and efficiency.