China International Travel Mart 2000 (CITM 2000) is scheduled to be held in Shanghai from October 18 to 21.

Jointly organized by China's National Tourism Administration, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, this will be the second such mart in the top commercial center of China, after the first held in 1998.

CITM, the largest professional travel market in Asia, plays an important role in the exchanges between China's tourism sector and their overseas counterparts, an official with the tourism administration said, adding that this year's event will be much larger than the one in 1998.

Those to attend the mart include international and domestic tourist organizations, travel agencies, hotels, airlines and other travel related companies, with 1,300 top-quality buyers to be invited.

China's tourism witnessed rapid development last year and by the end of November, the number of overseas tourist arrivals to China reached more than 66 million, up 15 percent over the corresponding period of the previous year, while its international tourism revenues jumped 12.33 percent to 12.91 billion US dollars.