The latest information provided by Guangxi Tourism Bureau showed that in 2004, Asia received 310 million tourists, making it become the second tourist hot spot in the world next to Europe.

For many years, Asian countries have been each other’s country of tourism source market and destinations.

Take China for example, of China’s top ten tourist source countries, seven are located in Asia (Japan, North Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Mongolia and Thailand).

Southeast Asian countries account for 57 percent of them. At the same time, many Asian countries have become Chinese people’s favorite places to travel.

Singapore received 670 million Chinese tourists every year, accounting for eight per cent of the country’s outbound travelers. Malaysia, Thailand, North Korea and Japan have also become Chinese tourists' frequent choices to travel.

Statistics showed that over the past two years, 80 per cent of Chinese tourists choose to travel in Asian countries or regions through travel agencies.

China has become the largest source of tourist market for Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia. For Southeast Asian countries, 77 per cent of tourists come from Asia.

At present, China and the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries are in the process of implementing the tourist circle without frontier in China-ASEAN Region by way of setting up a multiple entry and exit management scheme.

Director of the regulation department of Guangxi Tourism Bureau Lai Fuqiang said if the circle was finally established, trade between China and ASEAN countries would exceed 50 per cent growth.

(Chinanews.cn September 2, 2005)