ASEAN benefits from China's 'Golden Week'
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-07 16:17
The week-long Labor Day holiday boosted the tourism market of China's
neighboring countries who belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN).
"China's golden week holidays not only give impetus to the domestic tourism
market, but have also brought 'gold' to neighboring countries' tourism trade,"
said Tan Zhengfei, an official with the ports management office of Pingxiang
city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have maintained their popularity as
destinations for Chinese tourists. The purchase of air tickets to the three
countries began in early April.
"Traveling to the three countries only costs about 3,000 yuan (about 374 U.S.
dollars)," said Chen Sheng, who planned to travel to the three nations with his
family.
Besides the traditional tourists attractions, now more and more Chinese would
also like to travel to other ASEAN nations such as the Philippines and Vietnam.
Statistics show that about 100,000 Chinese tourists visited the Philippines
last year, up 200 percent on the previous year, and the multiple choices of
transport modes to Vietnam were also convenient for Chinese tourists.
Analysts attributed the tourism craze to the establishment of closer
China-ASEAN cooperation in the tourism field.
Xiao Jiangang, director of the Guangxi tourism administration, said
introducing tourism projects has become the important content of the China-ASEAN
expo, which has been held annually in Guangxi since 2004.
Guangxi, as a neighboring region for ASEAN countries, has signed an agreement
for tourism cooperation with Vietnam to build high-quality travel routes, Xiao
said.
|