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    China Business
     Oct 20, 2006
Flights needed for tourism to take off

BEIJING - The Chinese government says the Pacific Islands will not attract tourists from China because of the lack of direct flights.
Liu Kezhi, director general of China's State Tourism Bureau, said: "Right now we lack air transportation. This is the bottleneck for both sides."

"Tourists want to enjoy a very fast and comfortable flight to their destination because it makes their vacation easier. Right now, we are encouraging both sides to look at the possibility of flying to



each other's destination," Liu added.

He confirmed that all of China's allies in the Pacific have been granted approved destination status (ADS). "The number of tourists travelling to the Pacific is not much because we just approved ADS last year. Fiji and Vanuatu were the first countries to be granted ADS," Liu said.

The Chinese government has granted ADS to more than 125 countries. So far, 85 countries have begun receiving tourist groups including some in the Pacific.

"We encourage our tourists to visit the Pacific to further enhance this kind of mutual understanding," he said.

"This [tourism] is a 'people-to-people industry' that can help people to get to know each other and enhance bilateral relations. This is one of the reasons we have a very good relationship with the Pacific in the field of tourism.

Meanwhile, China has invited Pacific Island countries that are members of the South Pacific Tourism Organization (SPTO) to take part in the largest travel show in Asia next month.

"The Chinese International Travel Mart will be held in Shanghai from November 16 to 19. We have sent invitations to all Pacific countries to organize delegations," Liu said.

"We will come together to promote Pacific Island tourism products and resources to the Chinese to let them know what the Pacific can offer."

(Asia Pulse/Pacnews)


 The China tourism explosion (Mar 7, '06)

 
 



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