BANGKOK The way it began, as passengers piled onto the boat while a buffet was laid out on the deck, with easy- listening tunes like "Moon River" oozing from the loudspeakers, it could have been just about any Bangkok sundown cruise.

But this one was unmistakably different. Before the boat even left the dock the food disappeared, right down to the last slice of watermelon - a Chinese favorite. Then the Western standards were quickly replaced with recent Chinese hits. And within minutes, the passengers, all of whom were Chinese, were singing along.

Any doubts that this is a new day in Bangkok tourism were put aside as the ship set off under an exploding sunset down the Chao Phraya River, which runs through the city.

Every few minutes when the boat encountered another laden with Chinese tourists - and there were many - the passengers hailed each other cheerfully.

For the first time, large numbers of Chinese are leaving their country as tourists, resulting in an unprecedented explosion in Chinese travel. And if current projections are met, the global tourism industry will be undergoing a crash course in everything Chinese to meet the needs of what promises to be the greatest wave of international travelers ever.

As usual when something goes over big in China, the numbers are staggering. In 1995, only 4.5 million Chinese traveled overseas. By 2005, that figure had increased to 31 million, and if expectations for future growth are met or approached, even this gargantuan growth will be quickly dwarfed. Both Chinese and international travel industry experts forecast that at least 50 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas annually by 2010 and 100 million by 2020.

In 2004, the last year for which there is complete information, 61.7 million Americans traveled abroad.

"They are latecomers on the tourism scene but they have come on in a big way," said Xu Jing, the Madrid-based director of Asia and Pacific affairs at the World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations. "The growth in Chinese outbound travel in the last five years has been the highest in the world - in the range of 37 or 38 percent a year."

The last nation to burst on the world travel scene with similar speed and force was Japan, which was enjoying an explosion of prosperity in the 1980s. Suddenly, Japanese could be seen everywhere, especially groups of middle-aged tourists wearing caps and brandishing the latest camera gear, and led, inevitably, by a Japanese tour guide hoisting a flag so that people would not get lost.

The industry responded by placing Japanese-style slippers and bathrobes in hotel rooms, along with Japanese language television channels in their rooms. Japanese-speaking staff members also became obligatory at certain hotels and upscale shops. All that for roughly 17 million overseas visits.

As recently as the late 1980s, all but the Chinese elite were expressly forbidden from traveling overseas. But by 2003, China's overseas travelers had already surpassed Japan's, placing it squarely among the world's leading travel nations. Ultimately, travel experts say, the Chinese impact on world tourism stands to be even bigger.

The six most popular destinations for the Chinese are Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Russia, Thailand and the United States. Patterns that took years to develop during the Japanese wave are already falling into place in many of these countries, with hotels, restaurants, airports and shops beginning to cater to their needs with special Chinese language services, bank ATMs and menus oriented toward Chinese tastes.

As fast as this growth is, some in the Chinese travel industry warn that the world is not adapting fast enough.

"China is the latest and greatest market, but if other countries don't take cultural differences into account it will hinder our joint efforts to develop it," said Wang Ping, president of the Chinese Chamber of Tourism Commerce.

Wang said that while Europe was adjusting rapidly to Chinese needs, North America was not, and hotels and other places frequented by tourists failed to provide Chinese food or language aids.

By no means is all of the adjustment on the side of the receiving nations. Chinese tourists have been fined heavily in France recently for arriving with counterfeit luxury goods, like fake Louis Vuitton handbags. In Shanghai and other cities, travel agencies post people at airports warning Chinese travelers about penalties for importing fakes and imparting advice on etiquette in the West.

"Don't pick teeth, touch your belt, pull at your pants or take off your shoes in public," reads one common brochure.

BANGKOK The way it began, as passengers piled onto the boat while a buffet was laid out on the deck, with easy- listening tunes like "Moon River" oozing from the loudspeakers, it could have been just about any Bangkok sundown cruise.

But this one was unmistakably different. Before the boat even left the dock the food disappeared, right down to the last slice of watermelon - a Chinese favorite. Then the Western standards were quickly replaced with recent Chinese hits. And within minutes, the passengers, all of whom were Chinese, were singing along.

Any doubts that this is a new day in Bangkok tourism were put aside as the ship set off under an exploding sunset down the Chao Phraya River, which runs through the city.

Every few minutes when the boat encountered another laden with Chinese tourists - and there were many - the passengers hailed each other cheerfully.

For the first time, large numbers of Chinese are leaving their country as tourists, resulting in an unprecedented explosion in Chinese travel. And if current projections are met, the global tourism industry will be undergoing a crash course in everything Chinese to meet the needs of what promises to be the greatest wave of international travelers ever.

As usual when something goes over big in China, the numbers are staggering. In 1995, only 4.5 million Chinese traveled overseas. By 2005, that figure had increased to 31 million, and if expectations for future growth are met or approached, even this gargantuan growth will be quickly dwarfed. Both Chinese and international travel industry experts forecast that at least 50 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas annually by 2010 and 100 million by 2020.

In 2004, the last year for which there is complete information, 61.7 million Americans traveled abroad.

"They are latecomers on the tourism scene but they have come on in a big way," said Xu Jing, the Madrid-based director of Asia and Pacific affairs at the World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations. "The growth in Chinese outbound travel in the last five years has been the highest in the world - in the range of 37 or 38 percent a year."

The last nation to burst on the world travel scene with similar speed and force was Japan, which was enjoying an explosion of prosperity in the 1980s. Suddenly, Japanese could be seen everywhere, especially groups of middle-aged tourists wearing caps and brandishing the latest camera gear, and led, inevitably, by a Japanese tour guide hoisting a flag so that people would not get lost.

The industry responded by placing Japanese-style slippers and bathrobes in hotel rooms, along with Japanese language television channels in their rooms. Japanese-speaking staff members also became obligatory at certain hotels and upscale shops. All that for roughly 17 million overseas visits.

As recently as the late 1980s, all but the Chinese elite were expressly forbidden from traveling overseas. But by 2003, China's overseas travelers had already surpassed Japan's, placing it squarely among the world's leading travel nations. Ultimately, travel experts say, the Chinese impact on world tourism stands to be even bigger.

The six most popular destinations for the Chinese are Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Russia, Thailand and the United States. Patterns that took years to develop during the Japanese wave are already falling into place in many of these countries, with hotels, restaurants, airports and shops beginning to cater to their needs with special Chinese language services, bank ATMs and menus oriented toward Chinese tastes.

As fast as this growth is, some in the Chinese travel industry warn that the world is not adapting fast enough.

"China is the latest and greatest market, but if other countries don't take cultural differences into account it will hinder our joint efforts to develop it," said Wang Ping, president of the Chinese Chamber of Tourism Commerce.

Wang said that while Europe was adjusting rapidly to Chinese needs, North America was not, and hotels and other places frequented by tourists failed to provide Chinese food or language aids.

By no means is all of the adjustment on the side of the receiving nations. Chinese tourists have been fined heavily in France recently for arriving with counterfeit luxury goods, like fake Louis Vuitton handbags. In Shanghai and other cities, travel agencies post people at airports warning Chinese travelers about penalties for importing fakes and imparting advice on etiquette in the West.

"Don't pick teeth, touch your belt, pull at your pants or take off your shoes in public," reads one common brochure.