This year may go down in history as the moment when the global balance of economic power shifted dramatically towards China, after Beijing humiliated Washington over the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
But let’s face it, tectonic shifts in the global economic order go largely unnoticed by ordinary mortals. Not so tectonic shifts in the global tourism order: we all care who’s throwing their weight around these days, at the Pyramids or the Louvre. China’s ability to push people around in the queue for Broadway tickets concerns most of us far more than its ability to call the shots over Asian infrastructure finance.
And oddly enough, it’s Beijing that cares most of all. Mainland tourists are an important part of China’s global soft power offensive; if they disgrace themselves abroad, the national image suffers. So the Chinese government has stepped in with measures aimed at forcing mainland travellers to clean up their tourism act.