China's outbound and domestic travel market maintained strong growth momentum in 2012, the People's Daily reported Thursday, showing prosperity in China's travel industry last year.

The number of domestic travelers in China was expected to rise to 3 billion over 2012, while the figure for outbound travelers was estimated to top 80 million, said Dai Bin, president of China Tourism Academy, noting however that growth in inbound tourist population remained flat from the previous year.

Average travel expenditures for both urban and rural residents of the country hit a record high in the first three quarters of 2012, pointing to an improvement in China's travel industry, Dai said.

The United Nations World Tourism Organization recently released a report showing that China was the largest growth engine for the global overseas travel population.

The number of overseas travelers across the globe exceeded 1 billion in 2012, according to the report.