On 17 November 2017, the closing ceremony of ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation Year was successfully held in Kunming, Yunnan?province.?Mr. Wei?Hongtao, Deputy Director-General?of China National Tourism Administration, Mr. Chen Shun, Vice Governor of Yunnan?Province,?and Mr.?Pongpanu Svetarundra, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand?and rotating Chair of ASEAN National Tourism Organizations?(NTOs), attended the closing ceremony and delivered speeches.

In his speech, Mr. Wei Hongtao said that the ASEAN-China?Year of Tourism Cooperation was an important mandate derived from the 19th ASEAN-China?Summit?in 2016.?It reflected?the strong desire of both sides to consolidate traditional friendship, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and enhance practical cooperation. Over the past year, the two sides has seized?the opportunity to synergize?policy measures?and?strengthen friendly dialogue.?A?series of colourful tourism exchange activities?have been held, which?brought?tangible results to the people of both side. Year 2017 is the 50th?anniversary of ASEAN?and marks the 14th anniversary of ASEAN-China strategic partnership.?China is willing to further?strengthen?the ties of humanity with ASEAN countries, make?good use of tourism as the economic engine, constantly consolidate social?and civil foundations for the development of ?bilateral relations, and make new contributions to the bilateral strategic partnership.

Mr. Chen Sun said that the ASEAN-China?Year of Tourism Cooperation has played?an important role to further promote the tourism cooperation between China and ASEAN countries with?positive effects. In cooperation with ASEAN, Yunnan has natural advantages.?Yunnan?hopes to deepen cooperation with ASEAN in developing tourism products, expanding tourism market, creating cross-border tourism routes and cultivating tourism brands, so as to?jointly inject new impetus to ASEAN-China?tourism cooperation.

Mr. Pongpanu Svetarundra said that since the launch of the ASEAN-China Year?of Tourism Cooperation, the bilateral tourism cooperation has been continuously deepened. In 2016, the number of Chinese tourists to?ASEAN countries reached 19.8 million, while China received more than 10 million tourists from ASEAN.?The people-to-people exchange between the two sides maintained a reasonable growth rate,?but there is?still great?potential?for growth.

Representatives from tourism sectors and National Tourism Organizations of both China and ASEAN countries, tourism and related industry representatives and media attended the closing ceremony. The representative?from ASEAN-China Centre attended the event and interacted with the?participants.

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