The lychee tourism festival, set to run through to Wednesday, aims to boost the development of the city's tourism industry across the board and to lure investment for its further economic development, said Conghua Mayor Liang Jianqing.

Conghua, about 60 kilometers northeast of Guangzhou - the provincial capital of Guangdong in South China - is a national supply base for lychees.

Its top-quality lychees presently sell for over 300 yuan (US$36) per kilogram in the local market.

The city is blessed with abundant tourism resources.

Attractions include a hot spring, the Liuxihe National Forestry Park, the Shimen National Forestry Park and the Huanglonghu Forestry Park.

They all combine to make the city into one of the most popular destinations in Guangdong Province.

"Lychees play a match-making role in Conghua's economic development," Liang said.

"We hope the lychee festival will make Conghua better known at home and abroad and attract a growing number of tourists and business people from home and abroad."

According to Liang, Conghua is encouraging business people to participate more actively in the city's tourism industry, agriculture and manufacturing industry.

On Wednesday, the city government also held a ceremony of contract signing for projects involving a capital input of 2.8 billion yuan (US$337.3 million).

(China Daily July 3, 2003)