China Data Supplement December 2006

China aktuell Data Supplement – PRC, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taiwan 51
understanding (MOU) and a cooperation plan. Muhammad Khayr
al-Wadi said China and Syria had a long history of friendship and
exchanges going back to the Silk Road period. "We will work
together to promote bilateral tourism exchanges," he said. Syria's
tourism income reached 2.3bn US dollars last year and it expects to
welcome 12m foreign travellers by 2015. (XNA, 19 Dec 06)
International Agreements
China has granted tourist destination status to 26 African countries,
according to an action plan endorsed by Chinese and African
leaders in Beijing on 5 November.
"With the new decision of the Chinese government to extend the
Approved Destination Status (ADS) to nine African countries
including Algeria, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Gabon, Rwanda, Mali,
Mozambique, Benin and Nigeria, there are now 26 ADS countries in
Africa," says the document adopted at the Beijing Summit of the
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a high-profile gathering of
leaders from China and 48 African countries that have diplomatic
relations with it.
The number of Chinese tourists to Africa reached 110,000 in 2005,
doubling the 2004 figure, according to the Exit-Entry Administration
Bureau of the Public Security Ministry.
Yet tourists to Africa currently account for merely five per cent of the
total outbound tourists from the world's most populous nation.
In 2005, the Chinese made 31m trips overseas and the figure is
expected to grow by 10 per cent this year.
Eyeing the huge potential, governments and travel services in many
African countries are wooing Chinese tourists and encouraging
more Africans to travel to China.
According to statistics from the World Travel and Tourism Council,
the travel and tourism industry in North Africa represents 13.4 per
cent of GDP and provides 12 per cent of employment.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the sector contributes eight per cent of GDP
and generates 10.5 million jobs, accounting for 6.6 per cent of total
employment.
Tourism revenue in Africa is expected to grow by 4.7 per cent
annually in real terms between 2007 and 2016.
The Chinese government will extend ADS to more qualified African
countries at their request, says the Action Plan. "China-Africa
cooperation in the tourism industry will help promote understanding
and friendship between their peoples," it says.
Chinese tourists can get visas to African countries within seven
working days, according to Lin Bo, an executive with China
International Travel Service, the country's largest travel service
provider.
The landmark two-day Beijing Summit concluded on 5 November,
after two historic documents, a declaration and an action plan for
2007-2009, had been adopted. (XNA, 5 Nov 06)
Lome, 23 November: China and West African nations signed a
credit agreement that involves tens of millions of euros, a follow-up
to the China-Africa summit held last month in Beijing. At the end of
a tow-day forum, the China Day of Economy, the Import and Export
Bank of China and the West African Development Bank (WADB)
signed the document under which China will provide 70m euros
(90.7m US dollars) in credit. The People's Bank of China signed a
separate agreement with the WADB to provide one million dollars in
a technical cooperation fund. On behalf of Togolese Prime Minister
Yaovi Agboyibo, who opened the China Day of Economy in Lome on
Wednesday, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts
Jean-Lucien Savi de Tove addressed the closing of the forum,
saying it has brought hope of economic development to the West
African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA). He said he was
looking forward to a new era of economic cooperation and mutual
benefits between China and the UEMOA. The economic integration
in the region must be based on the model of a fruitful strategic
partnership between China and African nations, the minister added.
During the China Day of Economy, participants explored ways to
broaden cooperation, especially in personnel training, technical
transfer and infrastructure construction. They also exchanged views
on regional investments and economic potential, reaching the
consensus that closer ties should be forged between Chinese and
West African business circles.
The UEMOA, established in 1994, groups Burkina Faso, Mali,
Senegal, Togo, Benin, Niger, Cote d'Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau. The
group, which comprises all of France's former West African colonies
except Guinea, aims to promote the free movement of people,
goods and capital among the member states. The UEMOA states
are also members of the larger Economic Community of West
African states formed by all the 16 countries in the West African
region. (XNA, 24 Nov 06)
Haikou, 15 December: Ministerial officials from 11 of East Asia's
coastal countries signed an agreement to implement a Sustainable
Development Strategy for the Seas of East Asia
(SDS-SEA). Ministerial level officials from Cambodia, Democratic
People's Republic of Korea [DPRK], Indonesia, Japan, Laos, the
Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, East Timor, Vietnam and
China signed the Haikou declaration, on a Chinese marine
administration vessel in Haikou Bay outside the capital city of South
China's Hainan Province. The declaration included a three-year
action plan on sustainable development covering 2007 to 2010. The
declaration said that the East Asian seas had encountered many
environmental problems which have increased in recent years. All