Chinese and U.S. Tourism Officials Seek to Increase Cooperation

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. October 14, 2008

OCTOBER 29, 2007. For the first time ever, 31 leading Chinese tourism officials met with more than three dozen U.S. state tourism directors during a daylong summit in Charlotte, NC, to explore ways for the two countries to increase cooperation on travel-related matters.

A key opportunity is to increase the two-way tourist traffic volume between the two countries. In 2006, China and U.S. combined for a total of 2.35 million visits. But with the rapidly growing exchange between the two countries in trade, culture, education and health care, tourism exchange between the both countries still has a great potential and a bright future.

The summit also explored ways to improve structures between the national tourism administrations of the two countries. Under the prerequisite of fully respecting the role of the China-U.S. tourism working team and tourism cooperation between the two countries, efforts were made to actively explore opportunities for cooperation and exchange among the Chinese provinces and the American states.

"The efficient cooperation between the China-U.S. governmental tourism offices - and among the Chinese provinces and the American states - will contribute to building the strategic partnership of the two travel industries and creating a new two-wheel-driven model of multi-level cooperation so as to realize the strategic win-win situation of the two travel industries," said Dr. Du Jiang, Vice Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration, who is leading a delegation of 31 tourism directors from various provinces, municipalities and regions of China.

"We can learn a lot from each other," said Roger J. Dow, President and Chief Executive Officer at the Travel Industry Association, based in Washington, DC. "During the next 10 years, the amount of travelers from both countries is expected to grow significantly. It makes sense that we explore ways to encourage travel to our respective countries."

During the summit, the selected representatives of travel industries from the two countries expressed their ideas, interpreted the China-U.S. tourism exchanges and cooperation from professional point of views, and analyzed the two travel industries, especially the outbound travel markets.

The summit ended with both parties signing the Initiative on Establishment of "China-U.S. Strategic Cooperation Framework in Tourism."

The summit was arranged by the Travel Industry Association (TIA), in conjunction with the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). The National Council of State Tourism Directors, an industry council housed within and administrated by TIA, also participated in the summit.

The Travel Industry Association is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $700 billion travel industry. TIA's mission is to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States. TIA is proud to be a partner in travel with American Express. For more information, visit www.tia.org.