After the founding of New China / PRC, especially since the opening up to the outside world and the reform, the Chinese government has attached great importance to tourism, which has been undergoing steady and fast growth.

Presently, China ranks among the top destinations in the world in terms of both tourist arrivals and foreign currency receipts, our outbound tourists are also increasing rapidly. China is now a big market for tourism.

In the first half of last year, China was affected by the sudden outbreak of SARS. The (concerned) tourist industry, as a result, suffered greatly / was seriously affected for a time.

Yet we have taken effective steps in preventing and controlling SARS while continuing with our economic construction, so that the tourist industry has been on fast recovery and development.