China to Further Open Tourism Sector: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 12, 2002

China to Further Open Tourism Sector: Official

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China will further open up its tourism sector to foreign competition, including allowing foreign operators to hold majority stakes in joint ventures or set up solely-owned businesses, a senior tourism official has said.

Internationally-reputed travel agencies with sound credit and management expertise will be especially welcome in China, said Zhang Jianzhong, head of the department of policy and regulations at the National Tourism Administration.

China has approved 11 Sino-foreign joint venture travel agencies, but the official said the opening process needed to be accelerated to fulfill the country's commitments to the World Trade Organization.

China would also gradually cancel regional restrictions on foreign operators, simplify procedures for the approval of foreign-invested projects and improve the regulatory system, he said.

The official also spoke of the need to fully open the tourism sector to private investment.

China is now the world's fifth largest tourist destination country, earning 17.8 billion US dollars in international tourist services in 2001.

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