The United States is gearing up to receive more Chinese visitors after the two governments signed an agreement to facilitate group leisure travel from China to the United States, said attendees of a US tourism marketing exhibition that ended on Wednesday.

About 5,300 people from over 70 countries convened in Las Vegas, Nevada, for an annual US international tourism marketing exhibition, or Pow Wow, where China became one of its key words. The exhibition started on May 31.

After years of negotiation, US Department of Commerce signed an agreement with Chinese officials to facilitate more group visitors traveling from China to the United States and that will begin later this year, said Roger Dow, president of the Washington-based Travel Industry Association (TIA), the organizer of the Pow Wow.

He said that he believed the agreement would drive the number of Chinese traveling to the United States to a million in the coming years.

US Commerce Secretary Gutierrez and China National Tourism Administration Director Shao Qiwei signed on December 11, 2007, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the United States of America to Facilitate Outbound Tourist Group Travel from China to the United States.

The first Chinese tour group as the result of the agreement is set to arrive in the United States on June 17, according to the announcement by the two governments.

"Visitation from Chinese market is increasing and we can expect to see the increase of the number of Chinese coming on group visit to New York City after a Memorandum of Understanding was signed late last year, so we are preparing for that," Chris Heywood, NYC Company Vice President of Travel and Tourism Public Relations, told Xinhua.