HONOLULU: The US state of Hawaii has signed an agreement with China in Honolulu that it hopes will boost travel to the islands and that Beijing hopes will win it access to Hawaii's tourism management expertise.

The agreement "helps us to continue to spread the word in China about Hawaii," Governor Linda Lingle said. "When they think of a place to visit, we'd like them to think about Hawaii."

Vice-Premier Wu Yi said at the ceremony that Hawaii had important expertise in the fields of tourism planning, management and personnel training.

These skills could "serve as valuable reference for the Chinese tourism industry," she said.

Hawaii is eager to lure more of China's increasingly prosperous international travellers to support the state's tourism industry.

The number of Chinese visitors to the state is already rising climbing 34.5 per cent in 2004 from the year earlier to 34,216 travellers.

But Hawaii captured just a fraction of the roughly 27 million Chinese who travelled overseas that year.

Japan is the single largest source of foreign tourists in Hawaii, with 1.48 million Japanese visiting these islands in 2004.

The governor signed the two-page document for Hawaii while Shao Qiwei, the chairman of the China National Tourism Administration, represented his organization.

The agreement says the two sides will facilitate travel between China and the United States and outlines a programme for Chinese tourism industry professionals to study in Hawaii.

The agreement comes after Lingle led a trade delegation to China last year.

There are obstacles to immediately boosting Chinese visitors to Hawaii, however. The United States is not an approved tourism destination; and businessmen and students form the bulk of visitors.

Wu stopped in the islands on her way to Washington for bilateral trade talks.

Source: China Daily