That pledge was made at the close of a two-day training session in Beijing, which brought together representatives from around 100 tourism agencies from across the nation.

China has turned out to be a safe and popular destination for many foreign tourists, said Tom Crossan, a director of People-to-People (PTP) Ambassador Programmes Inc.

People-to-people programmes have built bridges between people from China, the US and other countries and have also created opportunities for face-to-face meetings, said Liu Ping, who is the director of Beijing office of the US-based organization.

"We are lucky because few people (like us) could combine their careers with a grand mission," said Liu, who is also the executive general manager of Star Professional Programmes.

Organized by Liu's company, the meeting discussed how to improve services for the programmes, as well as how to overcome obstacles in establishing relationships with Chinese professionals.

"PTP delegates are professionals, not tourists," Liu stressed.

Ralph Baard, executive vice-president of PTP Ambassador programmes, said about 2,000 professional travelers will visit China this year under the arrangement of his organization.

According to him, 70,000 US people, who came from a wide range of fields such as medicine, law, science and technology, education and natural development resources, have visited China during the past years.

"I call it a perfect journey, and I loved every minute of it," said Dr Patch Adams, leader of clown, fun and humour medicine delegation to China, quoted on the organization's website.

Founded by US ex-president Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956, PTP programmes focus on building relationships through communication between individuals and on promoting better understanding, co-operation and mutual respect between peoples of different cultures.

(China Daily February 19, 2003)