South China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region is making positive progress in promoting the construction of the Sino-Vietnamese International Tourism Zone, with consensus reached after rounds of negotiations with Vietnam concerning relative agreements, according to an official from Guangxi.
Chen Jianjun, director of the tourism administration in Guangxi, said in order to enhance the tourism cooperation between China and Vietnam, the Sino-Vietnamese International Tourism Zone is to be built at the borders of the two countries, based on the Daxin cross-border waterfall and Frienship Pass (Youyiguan), a famous scenic spot in Guangxi. In years to come, the zone will become a tourist resort known for its crossborder waterfall, experience of Chinese and Vietnamese folk custom cultures and landscape with good environment and perfect amenities. The zone is also expected to lead China’s border tourism for further opening up as a demonstrative zone for international tourism cooperation, where travelers can enjoy visa-free tourism.
Since 2009, the border tourism cooperation between the two sides has been strengthened, with frequent official high-level talks, self-driving tour along the border and the construction of the tourism zone, said Chen. At present, Guangxi and Vietnam have established the mechanism of regularly scheduled sessions, and enhanced cooperation in customs clearance convenience, border market rectification and emergency handling.
With the completion of the China -ASEAN Free Trade Area, Guangxi has been playing a role as a bridgehead in China-ASEAN cooperation by beefing up its tourism and transportation ties with ASEAN, especially Vietnam. Presently, Guangxi’s provincial capital Nanning and the tourism city of Guilin have opened airline routes to main cities of ASEAN. Railway has also been strengthened with the international railway from Nanning to Hanoi in operation, according to China News Agency.
Additionally, highway routes for tourism from Nanning to several cities like Hanoi, Halong and Haiphong in Vietnam have been opened. Sea transportation has also been boosted with a tourism route from Beihai, Guangxi to Halong now opened and the sealane between Fangchenggang and Halong has resumed operations.
In recent years, tourists visiting Guangxi from ASEAN members like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines have been increasing at an annual growth rate of over 15 percent. In 2011, Guangxi received about 3.03 million inbound tourists, among whom, ASEAN members totaled to 840,900, up 31.6 percent year on year and accounting for 49.5 percent of the total foreign tourists.
Guangxi will strengthen its position as the leading tourist destination in ASEAN, Chen said.