China beats Italy in tourism

Asia last year roared back as a tourist destination, blasting past economic slowdowns and the 2003 scare over severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

Last year, more international tourists went to China than to Italy, making it the fourth most popular destination, the World Tourism Organization reported this month. The top three places were still France, Spain and the U.S.; Italy was No. 5.

Hong Kong, which hosted 40% more tourists in 2004 than in 2003, broke into the top 10 destinations, jumping to seventh place.

Tourism to China and Hong Kong has more than doubled since 1995, according to the WTO figures.

Tourism to the U.S. also grew last year, by 12%, to more than 46 million. But the country still hosted about 5 million fewer visitors than it did in 2000.

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Increase in summer trips is expected

Washington

Leisure travel will increase more than 2% this summer over last summer, with 328 million Americans expected to head for a destination more than 50 miles from home, according to the Travel Industry Assn. of America.

“Every sector of the travel industry will be up,” said Suzanne Cook, senior vice president of research for the nonprofit organization, which bases its forecast on an annual survey of 1,000 Americans.

Air travel is expected to increase 4%, and 16% will venture outside the U.S. Despite high gas prices, 17% of Americans plan to use a recreational vehicle this summer, the survey found.

Still, rising costs are on travelers’ minds: 40% of those planning leisure trips say higher prices will affect their plans, and more than half say they’ll look for cheaper places to stay and eat. Seventeen percent plan to reduce spending, 17% will take shorter trips, 14% will stay closer to home and 13% will take fewer trips. Florida, California, Nevada and New York are the places travelers would most like to visit this summer, the survey found.

The top three trip activities are visiting friends and relatives (75%), going to a beach or lake (70%) and visiting small towns or rural areas (64%).

Associated Press

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Historic Y building goes boutique

A 40-room boutique hotel in Boston’s Back Bay area is opening in a historic YWCA building that dates to 1929.

In an unusual arrangement, Hotel 140, which is to open Wednesday, shares the 14-story building with 56 rental apartments, 88 furnished single-room housing units, a theater that stages musicals and plays, a cafe, a florist, auxiliary space for a public high school and offices of Boston’s YWCA chapter.

Renters and hotel guests, although on different floors, will mingle in elevators and the building’s grand two-story lobby, with its elaborate millwork and oculus, said Judy Parks, vice president for real estate for YWCA Boston.

The hotel, at 140 Clarendon St., is near the John Hancock Tower & Conference Center. It’s also steps from a stop on Amtrak and the Orange Line of Boston’s “T” public transit system.

Hotel rates, which include continental breakfast and free high-speed Internet access, range from $99 to $169, depending on the time of year. (617) 585-5600, www.hotel140.com.

Compiled by Jane Engle