Tourists aren't going back to China – and that's another problem for its stuttering economy

• China's economic growth has disappointed amid a depressed housing market and high youth unemployment.
• Just 52,000 tourists on trips organized by travel agents visited China in the first quarter, per the WSJ.
• A struggling tourism sector will not help China's economy shake off its slowdown.

The world's second-largest economy is spluttering. China's been facing a slew of headwinds this year, such as a depressed housing market, rocketing youth unemployment, and widespread deflation fears. 

Growth for the second quarter came in at 6.3%, falling short of analysts' forecasts. 

China also has another problem. Despite reopening to the world after the pandemic earlier this year, it seems foreign visitors are not yet returning.

Just 52,000 people arrived on visits organized by travel agents in the first quarter of the year, the most recent period for which figures are available, The Wall Street Journal reported. That's 98% lower than the same period in 2019.

The World Tourism Alliance, a Chinese tourism research outfit, said in a report that the country's tourism sector was in a state of "distress and depression" following China's slow reopening after the pandemic. 

For almost three years, the country was all but closed to business travelers, tourists, and even residents' families as part of the stringent "zero-Covid" policy that was not abandoned until March.

It's possible that deteriorating relations with the West could be a factor, per the Journal.

In late June the State Department warned Americans to "reconsider travel to Mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions."  

"The number of visitors from Europe, America, Japan and Korea are all dropping, substantially," said Xiao Qianhui, a director of the China Tourism Association, in May.

China is far less dependent on tourism than other nations in the region industry such as Thailand and Vietnam, and has seen a 90% rebound in its tourism outflows to other countries, Bloomberg reported. 

But the lack of international appetite for visiting China will not do anything to boost the economy.

Beijing so far has stopped short of making any interventions despite pressure to stimulate a recovery in manufacturing and services to increase export volumes.