China, US pledge to promote tourism

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said at the closing ceremony that the two sides have organized a series of cultural and people-to-people exchanges this year to boost tourism in the two countries and made the peoples of both countries enjoy the fun of tourism.[Photo/Xinhua]

China-US Tourism Year 2016 came to the end on Sunday, with officials from both countries pledging to expand tourism cooperation and enhance friendship.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Sunday that the China-US Tourism Year has helped expand people-to-people exchanges and given fresh impetus to bilateral relations.

"Thanks to joint efforts, the Tourism Year has been marked with colorful and fruitful events, which have helped expand our people-to-people exchanges and practical cooperation in various areas, and injected new impetus to China-US relations," Xi said in a written message to the closing ceremony of the China-US Tourism Year 2016 held in Washington.

He urged the two sides to build on the success of the Tourism Year to sustain the momentum of people-to-people and cultural exchanges, enhance mutual understanding and friendship, and reinforce the social foundation for the development of China-US relations.

"The growth of China-US relations requires the participation and support of our peoples," he said.

The China-US Tourism Year was an outcome of Xi's state visit to the United States in September 2015. Xi said he and US President Barack Obama made the decision with a view to promoting the building of a new model of major-country relationship, and carrying forward practical cooperation and enhancing friendship between the two countries.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said at the closing ceremony that the two sides have organized a series of cultural and people-to-people exchanges this year to boost tourism in the two countries and made the peoples of both countries enjoy the fun of tourism.

Thanks to the Tourism Year, the number of Chinese tourists traveling to the United States increased by 14.7 percent in the first three quarters of this year from a year earlier, while the number of American tourists traveling to China went up by 7.3 percent during the same period, he said.

"The two-way tourist flow between the United States and China is expected to top 5 million this year," Wang said, adding that tourism cooperation "has injected strong impetus" to the two economies.