The Second Straits Tourism Exposition was inaugurated here on Wednesday evening, with the attendance of Vice-Premier Wu Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The expo is co-sponsored by the National Tourism Administration and the provincial government of Fujian, in collaboration with Fujian's provincial tourism administration and the municipal government of Xiamen and with assistance from tourism administrations in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.

The six-day expo, which will be held together with the 10th China International Investment and Trade Fair, is composed of a series of programs such as the Second Forum on Straits Tourism, exhibitions and presentations on tourism projects, and the foundation-laying ceremony for the building of the Straits Tourism Commodities City.

The first such expo was held in September 2005 and it received over 50,000 visitors and had over 1,600 business contracts signed involving 860 million yuan (107.5 million US dollars).

The Taiwan Straits area tops a list of 12 tourism zones to be developed in the country, according to the government's 11th five-year plan on the development of China's tourism industry.

Source: Xinhua