The economically booming Guangdong Province in south China on
Tuesday afternoon received its 100 millionth tourist at the Baiyun
Airport in the provincial capital of Guangzhou.
The 54-year-old Indonesian lady, named Nuraisim Widjaja Kusuma,
traveled from Jakarda to Guangzhou.
The lady said she was excited with the tour and believed she
would have a wonderful time with her family in Guangdong.
As of Tuesday, more than 100 million tourists had passed through
the province this year, sources with the provincial tourism bureau
said.
Guangdong experienced a fast growth in tourism in recent few
years.
The sources estimated that the province would earn US$7 billion
from inbound tourism for the whole of this year, a growth of nine
percent over the year-earlier level.
The province's annual revenue from domestic tourism will reach
148 billion yuan (US$19 billion) this year, up 10 percent.
The two will sum up to 206 billion yuan (US$26 billion), up 9.7
percent.
It is reported that Guangdong is the home province of roughly 20
million overseas Chinese, who mainly live in Southeast Asian
countries.
Annual international events, such as the Canton Fair in
Guangzhou and the China High-Tech Fair in Shenzhen, have also
contributed to the province's inbound tourism, the sources
said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2006)
