Organizers of the First Kunming International Tourism Festival held a promotion meeting in Kunming January 20 in an effort to draw more Hong Kong people to visit Yunnan Province of China.

The festival, to be held from April 10 to May 10 this year, will present a range of activities including grand parade of folk art performers, Kunming International Flower Festival in the Kunming World Horti-Expo Garden, torch carnival, fair of Chinese ethnic minorities and jade and emerald fair, according to the organizers.

Tourists will not only be able to enjoy the festival in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, but also in other places of the provinces, including Dali, Lijiang, Diqing and Xishuangbanna.

Hong Kong has always been the major market of Yunnan's tourism. The number of tourists from Hong Kong to Yunnan has increased to nearly 100,000 last year, said Cui Zhitao, secretary-general of the organization committee of the festival.

David Lan, secretary for home affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), said at the meeting that he wished success of the festival and further cooperation between the governments of the Yunnan Province and the HKSAR.