Tourism crowned with success despite SARS

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 08, 2004

Tourism crowned with success despite SARS

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China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) director He Guangwei said Thursday that tourism industry performed well in China in 2003, despite the impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic.

Gross international and domestic tourism earnings reached 487.4billion yuan (some 60 billion US dollars), down 12.4 percent compared with the previous year but were still better than expected.

Some 91 million inbound travelers visited China in 2003, 11.3 million of whom were foreigners. Foreign currency income reached 17.3 billion US dollars, down 15.1 percent compared with the previous year. Domestic travelers amounted to 870 million, with income reaching 344.2 billion yuan (40 billion US dollars), down 0.9 and 11.2 percent over the previous year.

In the first half of 2003, the outbreak of SARS affected the whole tourism industry. The Chinese government adopted a series of substantial measures to support the industry, which provided good conditions for recovery.

Tourism ministers from the ASEAN nations, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) gathered in Beijing in August. The 15th session of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) was held in Beijing in October. The two meetings indicated China's strong tourism potential and momentum of recovery. The China International Travel Mart held in Kunming last November also promoted the inbound tourism recovery and enhanced international exchanges.

In December, the CNTA led a delegation of high-level tourism exchanges in Hong Kong and Macao and vowed to step up cooperation.

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