US becomes China ‘approved destination’
In a landmark agreement, Chinese travel agencies will from early next year be allowed to organise tour groups to the United States, which received the Chinese government’s Approved Destination Status yesterday.
The ADS comes after years of negotiations, making it the 134th country on China’s list.
China National Tourism Administration director Shao Qiwei and U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez signed a memorandum marking the new status, Xinhua reported.
The agreement could see about 579,000 Chinese visitors to the U.S. annually by 2011.
“Today’s agreement will open a large and growing market for the U.S. travel and tourism industry,” Gutierrez was quoted saying.
“This creates positive economic benefits for the United States and strengthens the relationship between our nations.”
According to the MOU, US destinations will get the green light to market themselves in China.
“We are very excited. We have been waiting for this day to come, and it came sooner than we thought,” Jamie Y. Lee, chief representative of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau, was quoted saying by China Daily.
The bureau is the first city-level tourism office established in China. More US states and cities will likely open offices in China to promote tourism, she was quoted saying.
Bilateral tourism has been on the rise with the number of U.S. visitors to China reaching 1.7 million last year, up 10% from the previous year.
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