China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last Thursday officially launchedthe China-ASEAN Year of Tourism, with two sides vowing to enhance tourism cooperation.Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang attended the launching ceremony and made a speech inManila, the capital city of the Philippines, where he was on a four-day visit.
Wang Yang said China and ASEAN have been enjoying rapid economic development andpeople's livelihood has greatly improved, adding that a mass tourism era has come.
"China and ASEAN are close friendly neighbors. We have been each other's largest destinationsof overseas visits and largest sources of overseas visitors," he pointed out.
The Chinese vice premier noted that tourism cooperation between the two sides enjoys brightprospect, vowing China will work with ASEAN countries to take the China-ASEAN Year ofTourism as an opportunity to further upgrade the industry.
"We need to build more platforms for tourism cooperation to translate the consensus of ourleaders into more outcomes of practical cooperation," Wang Yang said.
Wanda Teo, tourism secretary of the Philippines which holds the rotating chair of the ASEAN,said connectivity inside ASEAN has improved gradually in past years, and that people movemore freely within ASEAN with it as a single tourism destination.
"We celebrate today the tourism cooperation year between China and ASEAN, we hope tourismorganizations of the two sides strengthen their cooperation, which will in turn bring more jobopportunities and investments with it," she said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte respectively sent theircongratulatory messages for the event.
