A 14-member delegation from the Fujian Provincial Association of Tourism left Fuzhou City Tuesday on a fact-finding tour of Jinmen, hoping to make a breakthrough in two-way tours between Fujian and Taiwan this year.
Ming Min, director of the Fujian Provincial Tourism Bureau and head of the delegation, said Fujian would organize various cultural activities to attract more visitors from Taiwan.
Statistics show Fujian had hosted more than 5 million tourists from Taiwan by the end of last year. In 2002 alone, 571,700 people from Taiwan came to Fujian for sightseeing, up by 15.7 percent from the previous year. The figure made up 30 percent of the total overseas visitors to Fujian in 2002.
Fujian has 11 state-listed scenic spots, nine state forest parks and 45 historical sites under government protection. It received 41 million Chinese and foreign tourists in 2002, representing an 18-percent year-on-year rise. Tourist income totaled 42.4 billion yuan (US$5.1 billion), up by 23 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2003)
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