（President assistant of CEIS and general manager of Xinhua Silk Road Information Department Li Yue addressed the China-ASEAN Business Matching Meeting on Tourism on September 13.）
BEIJING, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- China Economic Information Service (CEIS) of Xinhua News Agency rolled out the China-ASEAN Tourism and Development Report (2017) during the China-ASEAN Business Matching Meeting on Tourism held on September 13 in Nanning, capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
The Report faithfully reviews the path of China-ASEAN cooperation that started with tourism, summarizes their actual achievements through a range of projects and predicts the future directions. It also sets forth a number of specific opinions and suggestions for further achieving mutual benefits and a win-win outcome in the future cooperation.
Statistics from the Report show that China and ASEAN have emerged as the largest overseas tourist destination and tourist source for each other. In 2016, the number of mutual tourists exceeded more than 30 million. Over 2,700 flights went back and forth between China and ASEAN countries every week.
In order to strengthen tourism cooperation between China and ASEAN, the Report suggests further exploring historical and cultural heritages from the long-term friendly exchanges between China and the ASEAN, enhancing policy-level connections to facilitate tourism, entry-exit and visa formalities on both sides, promoting connectivity between China-ASEAN tourism infrastructure, establishing an online tour path for the Belt and Road Initiative and joining hands to advance tourism development with lowered barriers, simplified procedures and diversified cross-border tourism products.
“The release of this Report crystallizes the continued passion of the editorial team for Belt and Road-focused research. As one of the first pilot organizations serving as China’s top-level think tanks, the CEIS has brought together the wisdom and efforts of senior analysts specializing in research on the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN,” noted Li Yue, president assistant of CEIS and general manager of Xinhua Silk Road Information Department of CEIS.
According to Li, by means of organizing experts who share cutting-edge research findings in the field of tourism management and chief journalists assigned by Xinhua News Agency in ASEAN countries to write the Report, we hope to help people keep abreast of China-ASEAN tourism development, spread the friendship and affection across countries, ethnic groups and religions, add a brighter luster to China-ASEAN relationship and give a strong impetus for regional development.
Li pointed out that tourism is a sunrise industry and helps add happiness to people’s lives. We have reason to believe that China-ASEAN tourism cooperation will lead to all-round economic and social development of both parties, promote mutual political trust and multilateral communication, improve national living standards, and achieve mutual benefits and a win-win outcome.
As one of the events under the 14th China-ASEAN Expo, the business matching meeting on tourism cooperation is jointly sponsored by the China-ASEAN Expo Secretariat and CEIS. To provide think-tank support for the business matching meeting, the Xinhua Silk Road Information Department and Guangxi Center of CEIS are responsible for the organization, writing and release of the Report. (Contributed by Zhang Yuan, Qiu Jun, zhangyuan11@xinhua.org, qiujun@xinhua.org)
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