A Chinese tourism official says the country is quickly becoming a major destination for international tourists.

Sun Gang, vice director of the National Tourism Administration, said at a tourism forum in Beijing that early last year's SARS outbreak took a heavy toll in the Chinese tourism industry.

However, the industry has bounced back and is now growing faster than expected.

He notes that during the period from 1996 to 2002, the number of overseas arrivals and those going abroad as well as domestic tourists grew much faster than the prediction of eight percent increase given by World Tourism Organization and the World Bank.

The first five months of this year saw more than 42 million overseas arrivals in the Chinese mainland, the highest number ever recorded during this period throughout history.

At the same time, more and more countries have opened their doors to Chinese tourists.

(Chinabroadcast.cn July 2, 2004)