The 2006 China Domestic Travel Mart concluded in Chengdu Saturday with 3,289 contracts worth 395 million yuan (US$49.3 million) signed, an official said at a press conference. The next year’s mart will be held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.

Senior officials, including Vice Minister of the National Tourism Administration Sun Gang, Vice Governor of Sichuan Province Wang Huaichen and Vice Mayor of Chengdu He Huazhang, attended the closing ceremony.

Yu Kaifa, an official from the Tourism Promotion and International Communication Department of the National Tourism Administration, told the press that Chengdu’s 2006 China Domestic Travel Mart is the biggest one of its kind since 13 years ago. Statistics from the organizers show that 3,289 contracts worth 395 million yuan (US$49.3 million) and 8,529 agreements of intent worth 1.549 billion yuan (US$193 million) were signed during the three days of exhibition. Some 15,000 professionals and 30,000 visitors participated in the mart.

Four grand display halls, covering about 460,000 square kilometers, were set up to house 2,223 booths. Exhibitors used new materials and technologies to present the best of their local attractions.

Regional cooperation features this year’s mart. Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai combined their booths to do big promotion while Sichuan, Chongqing and Guizhou co-presented “red-tourism” routes to market former revolutionary sites as places of interest for travelers. 21 travel products recommendation conferences and 26 performances were held, fully and systemically introducing local sceneries, culture and folk arts.

Following the conclusion of the mart, the mart flag was handed by Vice Governor of Sichuan Province Wang Huaichen and Mayor of Chengdu Guo Honglin to Zhang Weiguo, vice governor of Jiangsu Province and Yan Li, mayor of Suzhou which will host the next year’s China Domestic Travel Mart on April 20-23, 2007.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Zhang Rui, April 16, 2006)