Travel agencies, airlines and research institutes from 24 countries and regions Monday promoted their tourism resources at a forum in Shenzhen on Monday.

Delegates to the First International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism and Marketing said they were impressed by China's out-bound tourism potential.

Attendants laugh Monday at the forum, which was attended by more than 300 people from some 180 tourism-related institutions.Tourism consultant Bert van Walbeek (L top), and Joseph Tung (L bottom), executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, speak at the forum.

On the first day of the two-day forum, Shenzhen tourist officials told their foreign guests that Shenzhen was planning a string of measures aimed at making the city the first choice port of exit for China's outbound tourists.

Olav Paarmann from Schwerin, Germany, is one of a delegation of more than 20 German agencies.

"Our company operates theme tours, for instance, we offer young, middle-class Chinese people honeymoon tours," he said.

Katrin Willmann from Burgberg, Germany said China was a very big market, but her agency would attract Chinese visitors by quality tours rather than cheap prices.

The counselor with Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Taka Munyanyiwa said that since China had signed a tourism agreement with Zimbabwe three months ago, more than 1,000 Chinese tourists had visited the country, which is famous for its Victoria Falls."

Arun Anand from India said Chinese tourists were welcomed by Indian people.

"We have a shared cultural background and a similar diet. In large cities we have many Chinese restaurants, for example, there are 1,000 Chinese restaurants in Delhi," he said.

Meanwhile, Xu Jing, an officer with the World Tourism Organization suggested China establish a travel check and MasterCard link with other countries as soon as possible.

"It's not convenient or safe to have a lot of cash on hand. Chinese tourists often fall victim to robberies overseas, as local criminals know they have big amounts of cash on hand," said Xu.

Meng Zhou, vice editor-in-chief of a Chinese-language newspaper based in Germany, Travel and Trade in Europe, said Chinese tourists now had more chances to travel around the world.

"I think they should respect the local customs and habits and be well-behaved," Meng said.

Chi Xiongbiao, director general of the Shenzhen Municipal Tourism Bureau, said Shenzhen was committed to becoming China's largest outbound tourism distribution hub.

"Shenzhen will rely on its advantages of good facilities at ports and customs to offer better service in outbound tourism, at the same time, attracting domestic tourists to stay," Chi said.

China recorded 1.66 million outbound tourists in 2002, surpassing Japan for the first time as Asia's largest source of outbound tourists.

Despite the SARS outbreak, 11.84 million Chinese tourists went abroad in the first eight months of the year, a 15 percent increase over the same period last year.

The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will become the biggest tourism destination and the fourth-largest source of outbound tourists by 2020.

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