On the evening of February 29, a grand opening ceremony for 2016 China-US Tourism Year was staged in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulation message and American President Barack Obama sent a congratulation video. CNTA Chairman Li Jinzao read out President Xi's congratulation message and addressed the ceremony. Deputy Secretary of Commerce of the United States Bruce Andrews also gave an address and U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus prepared the audience to President Obama's congratulation video in his speech. Also present at the opening ceremony were Zhang Xiangchen, Deputy China International Trade Representative of the Ministry of Commerce, CNTA Vice Chairman Li Shihong, Kelly Craighead, Executive Director of the National Travel and Tourism Office, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Chris Thompson, President & CEO of Brand USA. Together they bore witness to the opening of the Tourism Year.
In his congratulation message, President Xi remarked that: "Co-hosting the 2016 China-US Tourism Year was an agreement reached during my state visit to the United State in last September. I would like to, on behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people and in my own name, extend warm congratulations to the opening of the Tourism Year and warm welcome to American guests who have traveled all the way here to celebrate the opening ceremony with us. China and the United States established diplomatic relations 37 years ago, and since then historical progress has been made in bilateral relations. In recent years, both governments have worked hard to advance the construction of new-type power relations and launched fruitful coordination and cooperation in several key areas and on major international and regional issues, not only benefiting Chinese and American people, but also strongly boosting world peace, stability and prosperity. China and the United States are both proud of their splendid culture and beautiful landscape and people from both countries are keenly interested in learning more about each other and cementing their friendship. I hope we'll take this opportunity to expand personnel exchange, reinforce cultural exchange and foster a more solid social basis for bilateral relations development. American tourists are welcome to China. I wish 2016 China-US Tourism Year a complete success."
In his congratulation video, U.S. President Obama said, "This year is the US-China Tourism Year and we'll encourage more mutual visits and more tourists to experience what we plan to offer."
He also added, "I hope more American will learn about the Chinese spirit, the solemnity of the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, the history of the Terracotta Warriors, the beauty of Mount Huang and the vitality of Shanghai and other Chinese cities. I also hope that more Chinese will come to the United States and find out what shapes the American, such as the Independence Hall, the Silicon Valley, state capitals and the Washington D.C., etc. Please get ready for more and more American are traveling to China. I also look forward to and welcome more Chinese to the United States. I believe that the more we understand each other, the more we can work with each other. I wish a life of peace, prosperity and friendship for American and Chinese people and people in the rest of the world."
In his address, CNTA Chairman Li Jinzao noted, "The congratulations sent by Chinese President Xi Jinping and American President Barack Obama show their great expectation for strengthening bilateral tourism cooperation and deepening friendship. With the Pacific Ocean in between, it takes from 11 to 16 hours to fly directly from one country to the other. But the ocean won't dampen the enthusiasm of people in both countries to visit each other. In 2015, our mutual visits surpassed 4.75 million. In the course of constructing new-type power relations, tourism lays the basis for people's support for political mutual trust, and is a new engine for economic and trade cooperation, an important platform for pragmatic cooperation and a unique channel for mutual learning. We would like to work with our American counterparts, seize this opportunity, launch over 100 activities including the organization of mutual visits involving 10,000 Chinese and American tourists, further open up the Chinese tourism market to the United States, increase the investment in the U.S. tourism market, and strive to bring the number of mutual visits to five million this year. Let's join hands to make tourism a new shining spot in the new-type power relations between China and the United States."
Bruce Andrews remarked, "State heads of both countries highly recognize the role of tourism exchange and agree to co-host the Tourism Year because tourism can not only expand people-to-people exchange, but also promote economic and trade contacts and become an important pillar supporting the economic development. The United States and China are the world's two biggest markets and vital for global economic development and stability. The United States highly values the economic and trade contacts with China, especially cooperation in tourism exchange. In recent years, the U.S. government has been trying to promote tourism exchange with China which has become one of the fastest growing markets for us. I believe that the Tourism Year will surely tighten bilateral economic and trade ties, deepen the friendship between American and Chinese people and encourage more friendly mutual visits. We'll further simplify the visa policy and improve our services to create more conveniences for Chinese tourists."
Max Baucus said in his remarks that tourism exchanges enhanced the mutual understanding between different countries and nations, and thus facilitated friendly relations between countries. As China and the US were both large powers in the world, their bilateral relations were critical for world peace. He hoped that tourism exchanges could play an active role in their relations and created enabling environments for next generations. The two parties should take the Tourism Year as an opportunity to promote tourism development and friendly exchanges, and thus to make tourism a bondage linking China and the US.
After the opening ceremony, the US hosted tourism promotion event and reception dinner, during which Pop Star Cook Show, Band Show and other performances were highly appreciated by attendees.
By report, under the framework of 2016 China-US Tourism Year, China and the US will hold about 100 events, including 10,000 Tourists Exchange Visits, China-US Tourism High-Level Dialogue, the closing ceremony of the Tourism Year, etc. "1,000 US Tourists Visiting the Great Wall" event will be held on March 25 at Jinshanling Great Wall in Hebei province. China-US Tourism High-Level Dialogue will be held in September in Ningxia. Moreover, relative Chinese organizations will hold "Beautiful China: the Maritime Silk Road" tourism promotion event in the US. The two sides will make joint efforts to provide more facilitation and services for tourists, including encouraging tourism agencies to develop more targeted products and services and airlines to provide more passenger-friendly services.
About 350 representatives from the CNTA, local tourism authorities, tourism industry, the press, US Department of Commerce, US Embassy to China, Brand USA, National Tour Association of the US and US media in China attended the opening ceremony.
Since June 2008, when the business of group tours of Chinese citizens to the US was officially launched, two-way visits between China and the US has been enlarging and tourism exchanges have kept steady growth. So far, China has become the fourth largest source market of the US, and the US is China's fourth largest source market and the largest long-distance tourism market. In 2015, more than 4.75 million visits were made between the two countries. Among them, 2.0858 million were made by US tourists to China, almost the same with the previous year; and 2.668 million were made by Chinese tourists to the US, up by 16.77% year on year. The events of 2016 China-US Tourism Year will further drive the growth in tourism market, bring more gains for the tourism industries of both countries, and create more jobs.