The number of inbound tourists to the Chinese mainland and the revenue they generated continued to decline in the first nine months of the year, tourism authorities said.

The China Tourism Academy, affiliated with the China National Tourism Administration, estimated in a report on Monday that about 96.2 million trips were made by overseas tourists in the first three quarters this year, down 3 percent from the same period last year.

The revenue from overseas tourists was about $35.6 billion, a 5 percent drop from last year. The report estimated that overseas tourists will make 129 million trips in 2013, down 3 percent from 2012, while related revenue will be $47 billion, a drop of 2 percent from 2012.

Dai Bin, head of the China Tourism Academy, said on Monday that the decline of inbound tourist reflects a structural problem in the Chinese tourism market.

The surge of income brought about by the opening-up of the Chinese tourism market in the 1980s was gradually disappearing because inbound tourists are paying more attention to tourism destinations' environment and services, he said.

The index of inbound tourist satisfaction also dropped sharply. The academy's survey about the third quarter's tourist satisfaction showed that the index of inbound tourist satisfaction stood at 72.17, down from 82.71 in the same period last year.