Nearly 4,000 Vietnamese tourists have passed by Pingxiang, the
border city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and entered
China for sightseeing in the first two days of the week-long
holiday.
"Now more and more Vietnamese would like to choose China as
their tourism destination, especially during the holiday time,"
said He Shaolin, official with the ports and harbors management
office of Pingxiang City of Guangxi.
In order to cope with the sharp increase of foreign visitors,
Guangxi's Friendship Pass linking China and Vietnam has set up two
more passageways to deal with the passing procedure, He said,
noting that the passageways may be increased further with the
constantly soar of foreign visitors.
Statistics showed that more than 140,000 Vietnamese visitors
were received by Guangxi in 2005, and nowadays, Guangxi has
gradually become the first station, not the only station, for the
Vietnamese tourists.
More and more Vietnamese tourists would pass by Guangxi, and
then visit other cities of China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, and
Guangzhou.
China's rich tourism resources, either the natural scenery or
modern cities, with its comparatively lower traveling cost, are
very attractive for Vietnamese tourists, according to a Vietnamese
guide.
The domestic tourism agencies of Vietnam would strive for
attracting customers to travel to China on festive and holiday
occasions, the guide said.
The convenient transport network at the China-Vietnam border,
including the highway and sea route connecting the two countries,
has played an important role in the craze for travel to China,
according to experts.
(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2006)