The Beijing International Tourism Exposition opened on weekend. The enthusiasm of most citizens for the world tourism display is even higher than the scorching temperature.

Beijing citizens are quite familiar with world geography and they are eager to know overseas cultural relics, said Marco Di Lello, tourism minister of Campania region in Italy.

What surprised him most is that almost all audience walking to his booth knew Pompeii, an Italian city buried in ash and lava in 79 AD, he said.

Beijing customers enthusiastically attended all types of cultural tours, such as music route to Germany and Austria as well as painting route to France and Netherlands, thanks to their broad vision, higher educational level and improved consumption power, said Chen Mang, managing director of the CAISSA Tourism Group.

Some 60,000 Beijing citizens spent their vacation overseas during the Spring Festival and Labor Day holidays. In the first four months of this year, the number of Chinese overnight stays in Berlin and Munich increased by 40 to 60 percent respectively compared with the previous year, said Florian Potsch, marketing manager of Munich Airport.

Hu Xiaoyong, a Beijing citizen visiting the exhibition said, "Igot to know lots of foreign scenic spots from the current exposition and some of my friends have plans for outbound trips."

German National Tourism Board predicted by 2009, the overnight Chinese tourists in Germany will reach one million.

Beijing is not only the world tourism destination but also a major source of tourism. The number of outbound tourists surpassed 30 million each year.

With the theme of "cultural Olympics", Beijing tourism will include more cultural factors, said Joseph Ace Durano, secretary of Tourism of Philippines.

People in Beijing love to read books, and books on tourism gain growing popularity. For most residents in the metropolis, they hope to know culture, history and religion of other nations, apart from shopping and transportation methods, said Robert Pawlik, counselor of economic and commercial section of Polish embassy.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2005)