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Guangdong Reports Major Growth in Tourism Earnings
South China's Guangdong Province earned 104.04 billion yuan (about US$12.54 billion) from its tourism industry last year, up 8.17 percent from that of 1999.
The earnings account for one quarter of the nations total, said sources from Guangdong Provincial Tourism Bureau.
Guangdong, which was designated as a forerunner to pilot the country's reform and opening-up drive more than two decades ago, has also become the biggest beneficiary of the endeavors and is now one of the economically developed regions in the country.
In the past year, the province hosted over 65.18 million overseas tourists, and earned more than US$3.45 billion from relevant services, up 10 percent and 5.55 percent, respectively, said the sources.
According to the sources, the province's foreign exchange earnings from the tourism industry made up more than one-fifth of the national total.
Industry experts explained that the increase in tourism was the result of longer holidays around International Labor Day in May and National Day on October 1, the introduction of 144-hour visa- free tours inside Guangdong Province for overseas tourists, and the increasingly improved infrastructure for tourism.
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