Regional rivals India, China to cooperate to promote tourism

Regional rivals India and China are joining forces to encourage more visitors to their countries, an official statement said Thursday.

India's Tourism Minister Ambika Soni and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Wednesday unveiled a joint logo showing the Great Wall of China and India's Taj Mahal _ the two countries' most popular tourist sites.

With the international travel trade predicting a steady growth in tourist traffic to the two Asian destinations, Soni said India and China were set "to emerge as the leading players in Asia in tourism."

Li said the two countries should share their expertise to market their ancient culture, tourist sites and wealth of festivals and cuisines to attract more visitors.

The leaders also launched a yearlong program of activities to promote tourism between their two countries.

The plan includes opening tourism offices in both countries for the first time, familiarization trips for tour operators, joint tourism campaigns, travel and tourism fairs, culture and food festivals and road shows, the Indian tourism ministry said in a statement.

Nearly 47,000 Chinese tourists visited India in 2005, while 630,000 Indians visited China the same year, it said.