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China, Japan sign travel deals
China, South Korea and Japan reached an agreement yesterday in the first tourism cooperation conference among the three countries, to enlarge the number of travelers between the trio to 17 million by 2010, Xinhua news agency reported today.
The figure last year was 12 million, the tourism ministers revealed at the Hokkaido Manifesto signing ceremony held in Japan yesterday.
Shao Qiwei, director general from China's tourism bureau, said during a press conference later that the manifesto will significantly strengthen the tourism exchange and cooperation of the three countries, creating a "win-win-win" situation.
China had more than 46.8 million stop-over tourists last year, among which 3.54 million were from South Korea and 3.39 million from Japan. The two countries were the biggest tourist sources to China, Shao said.
Meanwhile, the number of Chinese travelers hit 31 million in 2005, making China the largest tourist source in Asia, Shao added.
The countries share close proximity and big populations, reaching 160 million in total this year, which paves a broader path for further cooperation, Shao said.
This year is the Sino-Japan tourism year. Japan's government has opened-up the visa applicable area for Chinese tourists to the whole of Japan. |
