The 2006 China Domestic Travel Mart was opened today at the New International Convention & Exposition Center at the Century City in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. The event that runs until April 15 is expected to attract 10,000 representatives and over 40,000 visitors from various organizations, agencies, government departments and enterprises.

Senior officials, including Vice Minister of National Tourism Administration Sun Gang, Governor of Sichuan Province Zhang Zhongwei, and Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee Zhang Xuezhong attended the opening ceremony. Li Meng, vice chairman of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, officially pronounced the opening of the event.

In his speech, Sun said that China's tourism industry maintained its healthy growth rate in first two months of this year: 18.7 million foreign tourists have brought in US$4.4 billion in income for China; 78.38 million people traveled around China during the Spring Festival in February raking in transportation revenues of 36.8 billion yuan (US$4.58 billion), 17.6 percent up from the same period the year before.

China already has the biggest domestic travel market in the world, with 1.212 billion domestic tourists traveling around the country in 2005, resulting in profits of 528.6 billion yuan (US$65.9 billion) for the industry, 68.8 percent of gross travel income.

Sun said he hoped the event would further promote the domestic travel industry.

This year's exhibition covers about 460,000 square kilometers of floor space and has about 2,223 booths.

Tourism administrations, travel agencies, hotels, local landscape managements, parks, media, Internet companies, cars rental companies, tourism schools, souvenir production enterprises from 31 provinces, regions and municipalities, including Hong Kong and Macao, are represented at the event.

At a press conference on April 12, He Huazhang, vice mayor of Chengdu, said that organizers expect 40,000 to 50,000 visitors, making this year's event the biggest since the first one in 1993.  

Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan Province, is one of more important cities in southwest China. It is sometimes called "Land of Abundance" because it is where people can happily work and live. Chengdu was ranked No. 9 in China's Most Competitive Cities and City Synthetic Economics Power charts, which were included in the China Urban Development Report developed by nearly a hundred experts and scholars. The report was released last June by the China Association of Mayors.

Despite the lack of a real pillar industry, Chengdu's lifestyle, leisure, cuisine, wine, culture, natural landscapes, celebrities, giant pandas and heritage are what make it popular with travelers. According to Vice Mayor He, Chengdu received over 36.79 million tourists last year, 500,000 from overseas, earning the local tourism industry a total of 28.7 billion yuan (US$3.58 billion).

This is the second time in five years that the event is being held in Chengdu.

Another special feature of this year's event is rural tourism, which has been developing rapidly in recent years. Many believe that this area of tourism will boost China's travel business, so much so that the National Tourism Administration has named 2006 "China Rural Tourism Year".

Parallel events in Sichuan Province were also held to promote rural tourism, including the First Rural Tourism Festival that opened yesterday; the Dujiangyan Water Releasing Festival on April 5 in memory of Li Bing who built the world-famous 2622-year-old Dujiangyan Dam; and the International Li Bai Cultural Tourism Festival, which is named after China's most famous ancient poet from the Tang Dynasty (618–906), in Mianyang City on April 9.

Also known as the "Cradle of the Happy Rural Family", Chengdu has 5,596 households now engaged in the business of rural tourism. The sector directly employs 58,000 people. Related industries employ 290,000 people. As at the end of 2005, direct earnings were about 730 million yuan (US$91.1 million), with the relevant industries raking in about 1.63 billion yuan (US$203.5 million)

But the sector lacks regulation and proper administration. However, despite the challenges, Chengdu Mayor Ge Honglin is confident that the sector will continue to thrive. He said: "This is the best time to connect two significant issues -- promoting rural travel and building a new socialist countryside," referring to the central government's plan to develop the countryside over the next five years.

The first cooperation agreement of the mart was signed yesterday by a Chengdu company, Everbright International Tour Co., Ltd, and the Jinjiang District government. Under the agreement, a San Sheng Hua Xiang tour route and an automobile theme park worth US$80 million will be developed.

Next year's travel mart will be held in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, from April 20 to 23, 2007.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Zhang Rui, April 13, 2006)