Slowing China is wooing Indians to jump-start its economy through tourism and build cultural relations with its neighbouring country by launching its version of ‘China Tourism Year 2016’ in New Delhi on January 14.
The move is part of a decision taken in 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to observe ‘India Tourism Year’ in China in 2015 and ‘China Tourism Year’ in India in 2016, said Li Yaying, deputy director general of marketing and international cooperation department at China National Tourist Administration.
CNTA is the nodal body that coordinates tourism into China by organising events within and outside the country.
Subsequently, in May 2015, the tourism authorities of both the countries had signed an agreement, which provided strong support for activities of the ‘Tourism Year’ and other bilateral cooperation activities, she said.
The decision to hold tourism years in both the countries is aimed “at building ties of cultural exchange, promoting emotional communication between the people from both sides, reinforcing the foundation of mutual goodwill among the general public, and enriching the connotations of the developmental partnership between China and India”, she said.
In 2015, when Beijing hosted the ‘India Tourism Year’, mutual tourism visits were estimated to be about 9,00,000 while during the current edition of ‘China Tourism Year’ they could cross a million tourist visits, Li said.
Li said China would launch its tourism year event at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi on January 14. Chinese artistes will stage a traditional Huangmei opera named The Seven Fairy Maiden. The CNTA has also designed nearly a hundred tourism promotion and exchange activities to woo Indian tourists by show casing its history.
“We hope the activities will help Indian people better understand China and create a positive atmosphere for the tourism development in both the countries,” Li said. “India has become a major emerging source of tourists to China, while China is one of the source markets of India that has the largest growth potential.”
Until June last year, Indians were ranked tenth in terms of number of tourist arrivals into China , while Chinese were ranked ninth biggest travellers into India, according to data from their respective tourism ministries.