Abstract: International tourism has developed rapidly in recent years in China,and so has tourist map for international tourism.The international tourist map is designed majorly for overseas travelers.The map could be exploited to promote market with other measures,to guide the travel for overseas tourists,and also to undertake study and help to make the plan of international tourism industry for the tourism researchers and administration agencies. Inspite of the common points with domestic tourist map the international tourist map is really quite different from the domestic map and has its own characters of compilation.The elements of base map are simplified to stress the major features of geographic environment,especially those related to the tourism.The selection of thematic contents should fully consider the interest and preference of overseas tourists,the recommended tourist lines and points by travel agencies,and the scale,type,and use of the map.Besides,related information,such as international air routes,transport timetable, festivals,introduction to cities or scenic spots,could be presented with the diagrams, scripts,photos,paintings. The design of the map should be oriented to a high standard.Symbols,colors, fonts,and map layout should be designed to make the map nice to look,attractive to read,practical to use,and precious to reserve.The hill shading,landscape sketch,real shape symbol are usually exploited to make map vivid. The advent of computer mapping,electronic map and series mapping are the direction of future map research and compilation.