Gu Zhaoxi, deputy director of the State Tourism Administration, disclosed in Macao April 19 that the number of countries and regions serving as destinations for Chinese citizens' outbound tours would reach 100 by the end of this year.

At the annual "China Window" Forum of the 54th Pacific-Asian Tourism Association, Gu Zhaoxi revealed that up to April 1, this year, 64 countries and regions had formally started the business for Chinese citizens organized to tour abroad, they are 30 in Europe, 18 in Asia, 10 in Africa, three in Oceania and one in the America, in addition to Hong Kong and Macao, the two special administrative regions of China.

Sources say that China formally began organizing citizens for outbound tours in 1997, the number of people touring abroad that year was 5.32 million persons/times, the destinations formally opened for outbound tours were four countries-Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines and two regions-Hong Kong and Macao. That year the World Tourism Organization predicted that China would become the world's fourth largest source of tourists by 2020.

By People's Daily Online