New measures will allow foreign tour operators to organize trips

BEIJING - China will open its tourism market wider and allow foreign tour operators to organize Chinese tour groups to travel overseas in the near future, a top tourism official said.

A new set of measures is being drafted to prepare for the further opening, with hopes of finishing them by the end of this year, said Shao Qiwei, head of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), at the 2010 Global Travel and Tourism Summit on Wednesday.

Once the measures are in place, the administration will "gradually open up" the sector to foreign tour operators, he said.

The news came as "a big step", as currently foreign tour operators are allowed to operate inbound and domestic travel, but are barred from outbound business.

But the outbound business is the most lucrative part of the Chinese tourism market, because "it is experiencing the fastest growth and generating the most profits in China compared to domestic and inbound travels", said Jiang Yiyi, director of the International Tourism Development Institute at the China Tourism Academy.

Attracted to the huge market potential, international travel companies from 14 countries and regions have established 44 foreign tour agencies and joint ventures in China, including Germany's Tui and Japan's JTB. The companies stayed in business in China even though they earned little or even suffered losses.

Now, the day they have been waiting for has come one step closer. CNTA decided to open the market wider after seeing positive results from a pilot project, beginning in 2007, in which tour operators from Hong Kong and Macao organized Guangdong citizens to visit the two special administrative regions.

"The next step (of allowing foreign tour agencies to organize Chinese tourists on outbound group travels) will help China's tourism industry to maintain a healthy development," Shao Qiwei said.

"It may be challenging for domestic players at first, but after going through 30 years of reform and opening-up, they should be ready for competition now," he said.

Jiang Yiyi estimated that the further opening would be "step by step", and additional pilot projects will be adopted in major cities following the new regulations.

Petra Hedorfer, chief executive officer of the German National Tourist Board, said that the liberalization move is "a big step".

She expected that, through its closer cooperation with Tui China, of which the leading German tour operator Tui holds a 75 percent share, more Chinese tourists will be brought to Germany in the future.

CHINA DAILY

(China Daily 05/27/2010 page4)