China and Denmark signed a memorandum here Thursday on allowing Chinese tourist groups to visit Denmark.

According to the memorandum, Denmark gained the Approved Destination Status (ADS) from the Chinese government. More issues still need to be discussed before Chinese tourist groups can set out on their journeys.

Denmark is the second northern European nation to gain ADS after Sweden. Famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen is well known in China and the figures in his stories and fairy tales can help attract many Chinese tourists, said Soren Leerskov, regional director in Asia of the Scandinavian Tourist Board (STB).

Some 72,000 Chinese tourists visited northern Europe in 2002. The number is expected to grow 30 percent by 2004 after signing the memorandum, predicted Xuan Yan, representative of STB in China.

Denmark's capital Copenhagen is the gateway of China to north Europe. Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) now flies daily between Beijing and Copenhagen. It will open direct flights from Shanghai to Copenhagen three times a week at the end of March.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2004)