It’s my great pleasure to attend this forum. Firstly, on behalf of the Chinese government, I would like to congratulate and thank the organizers for successfully convening this forum. I also extend the great respect to the persons of all circles who have contributed to the tourism cooperation between China and the US.

This forum is a good result of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade’s (JCCT’s) reform efforts. By the middle of this year, Mrs. Pritzker proposed to hold a cooperation forum during this session of JCCT. I simply couldn’t agree more with his proposal and recommended tourism cooperation as the theme of the forum. That’s because this field is where China and the US share the most consensuses, have the least conflicts and can achieve the best effects with the lowest inputs.

Since “two countries’ relation largely relies on people-to-people exchanges”, the enhancement of China-US tourism cooperation has been not only agreed by the two countries’ government but also wished by their people. Last month when President Obama visited Beijing, China’s xinhuanet.com and qq.com carried out a joint opinion poll participated in by about 90,000 netizens. In the poll, there is a question saying how China and the US can get along with each other. The option of “enhancing the mutual understanding of the Chinese and US people” has been chosen by 51% of the persons surveyed, ranking the first place. Such a result reflects that the two countries’ people want to make more contacts and exchanges so as to build up a bridge of friendship and cooperation. To this end, tourism is for sure the best platform.

Tours are human activities which reveal refined tastes. One Western philosopher ever said, “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” As a famous saying by the renowned traveller of ancient China Xu Xiake goes, “Read 10,000 books and travel 10,000 miles”. Now the Chinese travelling enthusiasts say that “Travelling a lot is better than reading a lot.”

Tourism cooperation has become the most active and potential part of China-US economic & trade cooperation and their cultural & people-to-people exchanges. In the last decade, the tourists travelling between China and the US have topped 28 million, growing at an average annual rate of 10%. There are averagely 250 flights flying between the two countries per week and those from Chicago to China alone exceeded 30. The continuous advancement in tourism cooperation brings the two sides economic profits and enhances their people’s understanding and friendship, laying a solid public opinion foundation for a better China-US relationship.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Currently, China’s per-capita GDP has stood at about USD 7,000 and the spending demands of both urban and rural residents are increasing rapidly. Against such a background, the Chinese people demonstrate a remarkably increased willingness to travel abroad and the tourism also steps into a golden period for development. To foster tourism into a pillar industry, China has promulgated the Tourism Law, issued the Outline for National Tourism and Leisure, and introduced a series of tourism-boosted policies. Recently, the United States has increased the validity of short-term tourist visas for the Chinese applicants from one to ten years. This is a piece of great news and indicates unprecedented opportunities for the tourism cooperation between China and the US. Therefore, we will seize these opportunities to push the number of tourists between the two countries to exceed 5 million and move towards 10 million as soon as possible.

We will create more convenient travelling environment. China will encourage more cities to carry out the 72-hour visa free transit policy for the US tourists and meantime hopes the US can further streamline its entry and exit formalities and take more efficient visa measures so that tourists can have a perfect travelling experience throughout the entire process. Meanwhile, China will support the two sides’ airlines to increase the number of cities where travellers can fly non-stop and the number of direct flights and boost the development of tourist chartered flights, allowing tourists to travelling more conveniently. The US companies are encouraged to promote tour products in China and help the Chinese people know better about the US. The companies of the two countries are expected to jointly develop travelling markets and products.

We will expand cooperation in tourism investment. We are ready to lift the control over the proportion of shares by the US travel agencies while investing in China and attract the US manufacturers of travel gears like motor homes and yachts to make investment in our country. Meanwhile, we also encourage the Chinese companies to build tourism infrastructures including hotels and scenic spots in the US and the tourism enterprises to go public there. We hope the US can make it possible for China’s companies to do so.

We will share experience in tourism. The US is experienced in such as tourism-related aspects as tourism planning, creative design, marketing, smart travel, tourism management, and heritage and environment protection. Besides, it has nearly 300 colleges and universities running tourism courses. China is eager to learn advanced experience from the US so as to better develop its tourism. At the same time, China has also gathered some experience in cultural and countryside tours and is willing to share that with the US.

We will build a sound tourism cooperation mechanism. A cooperation development meeting among tourism heads of Chinese provinces and US states has been held for eight sessions. As an important platform to promote tourism cooperation, this meeting has covered all Chinese provinces and US states and in the future will expand to their second and third-class cities as well as major scenic spots so as to establish more tourism partnerships. Besides, to promote the sustained and sound development of tourism, the two sides may discuss how to set up a routine liaison mechanism where they can report information, settle down disputes, address issues related to safety, insurance and rescue in a prompt manner.

We will encourage tours and exchanges between the two countries’ young people so that they can know more about each other’s history and culture.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Li Jinzao has been named as Chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) for about one month. This is his first visit since coming into office and also reveals the high importance the Chinese side attaches to the US tourism market. “A new broom sweeps clean and a new official takes strict measures,” as an old Chinese saying goes. He is mulling new plans and measures to boost the growth of China’s tourism. This is a good opportunity to expand China-US cooperation in tourism. The Chinese and US governments and the two countries’ companies are expected to take the forum as a new start where they can create a brand-new, all-round, high-level cooperation pattern and enrich the new-type relationship between the two major powers.

In closing, I would like to invite all of you to visit China. Thank you!