National Tourism Working Meeting 2005 was held recently in Nanchang of Jiangxi. As learned, by the end of 2004 abroad destinations for Chinese tourists as approved by the State Council have reached 90, of which 63 have already been implemented.

As for now mainland areas, in which citizens make private travels to Hong Kong and Macao, have expanded to 32 cities in 6 provinces. It is estimated that tours from mainland to Hong Kong and Macao could reach 12 million and 7 million respectively last year.

During last year for the first time more than 100 million entries were made into Chinese borders. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism topped $25 billion. Total revenue from tourism exceeded 600 billion yuan.

(People’s Daily January 10, 2005)