The economically booming Guangdong Province in south China on Tuesday afternoon received its 100 millionth tourist at the Baiyun Airport in the provincial capital of Guangzhou.

 

The 54-year-old Indonesian lady, named Nuraisim Widjaja Kusuma, traveled from Jakarda to Guangzhou.

 

The lady said she was excited with the tour and believed she would have a wonderful time with her family in Guangdong.

 

As of Tuesday, more than 100 million tourists had passed through the province this year, sources with the provincial tourism bureau said.

 

Guangdong experienced a fast growth in tourism in recent few years.

 

The sources estimated that the province would earn US$7 billion from inbound tourism for the whole of this year, a growth of nine percent over the year-earlier level.

 

The province's annual revenue from domestic tourism will reach 148 billion yuan (US$19 billion) this year, up 10 percent.

 

The two will sum up to 206 billion yuan (US$26 billion), up 9.7 percent.

 

It is reported that Guangdong is the home province of roughly 20 million overseas Chinese, who mainly live in Southeast Asian countries.

 

Annual international events, such as the Canton Fair in Guangzhou and the China High-Tech Fair in Shenzhen, have also contributed to the province's inbound tourism, the sources said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2006)