With the first European Tour about to hit the road, major tour agents in China are busy making final preparations for their first domestic touring parties, which are due to set out Wednesday…
With the first European Tour about to hit the road, major tour agents in China are busy making final preparations for their first domestic touring parties, which are due to set out Wednesday.
Back in August, 28 European countries announced that from September on, they will join Germany as easily accessible destinations for Chinese tourists. China Radio International reported Wednesday.
Boosted by this news, popular holiday spots like Germany, France, Spain and Portugal have become a major source of custom for domestic tour agencies.
Meanwhile, European countries say they have made good preparations with mandarin speaking tour guides and Chinese food ready for the imminent influx of Chinese tourists.
Some countries have even prepared a special Cantonese service in order to attract tourists from Guangdong Province and Hong Kong.
In addition, in order to push forward the development of tourism between China and Europe, the Chinese civil aviation sector has decided to add more international flights to its schedule in order to provide better links to popular tourist resorts such as Rome and Paris.
The cost of a European tour per person is still unknown, but it is estimated to range from 3000 US dollars to more than 6000 dollars.
First Chinese official tourist group in France
The first Chinese official tourist group arrived in Paris-Roissy airport on Wednesday and was greeted by French Minister Delegate for Tourism, Leon Bertrand.
It was the first delegation to benefit from new accords between China and Europe on tourism, said Bertrand, who declared very happy to receive them in Paris.
Liu Zhiming, Chinese minister charge d`affaires in the Chinese embassy to France, also took part in the greeting ceremony with some French officials.
France is expected to be a major destination for China in several years, by the end of 2005, our country will see more than one million Chinese tourists, said the French minister.
The group, composed by 56 persons, came from Beijing on board of a Chinese airline Air China CA933.
Their visiting program will be well charged. The Eiffel Tower, Museum of Louvre, the famous Printemps department store, the cabaret Moulin Rouge, the Versailles Palace are well prepared to receive this first official group, including some tourism officials and 10 journalists, in their two-day visit in Paris.
Saturday morning, they will leave for Geneva on TGV (high speed)train to continue their trip in Switzerland and Italy.
The new accord signed last month between Europe and China will allow the Chinese people to travel to 27 European countries, amongwhich 22 are European Union members. Other Chinese tourist groups are to arrive in other European countries.
First Chinese tourist group in Finland
China`s first tour group arrived in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on Wednesday and received warm welcome from the Finnish side.
The 80 Chinese tourists will stay in the country for one to two days, and then visit other European countries.
Both officials of the Finnish Tourism Board and Cultural Counselor Wu Shiguang of the Chinese embassy believed that the increasing visits of Chinese tourists will help promote the friendly relations between the two countries.
Finland and 28 other European countries have become tourist destinations for Chinese citizens since Sept. 1.
Finnish official statistics show that 70,000 Chinese business travelers visited Finland in 2003 and the number is expected to rise to 250,000 in 2010.
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