City pushes the boat out to attract more tourists

With the introduction of visa-free stays for visitors from many countries, Guilin is expecting its tourism industry to boom.

Since July 2014, visitors from 51 countries, including Argentina, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, have been allowed to visit the city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region visa-free for 72 hours if they have valid visas and onward flight tickets to a third country.

Guilin is among the first cities in China to introduce the policy and experts believe the move will attract more visitors to the city, which is known for the beauty of the scenery along the Lijiang River.

Diplomats from the 51 countries were invited to attend this year's UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook.

Zhao Leqin, Guilin's top political official, said he hoped the diplomats would be able to popularize Guilin as a tourist destination in their countries.

On a cruise along the Lijiang River, Dimitrios Lianos, deputy mayor of Naxos in Greece, said the policy is good for Greek visitors and means there is much room for cooperation between the two cities.

Statistics show that the city was listed among China's top 10 tourist destinations in 2014, receiving more than 2 million inbound visitors that year. Among them were about 160 heads of state from around the world.

Meanwhile, Guilin introduced a policy in May that allows tour groups from the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei and the Philippines - to stay in the city for six days without visas.

To facilitate the growth of its tourism industry, Guilin has also been improving its infrastructure.

Liangjiang airport has flights to 46 cities in China and overseas. The city is investing more than 3 billion yuan ($463.89 million) to expand the airport and its supporting facilities, including the ability to handle Airbus A380 airplanes.

That will make the airport the only one in Guangxi able to receive the large aircraft. When the airport's first and second terminals are finished in 2017, it will be able to receive 12 million passengers.

Local transport authorities in Guilin made an investment of 7.99 billion yuan in 2014 to improve expressways as well as bus stations and ports, a 29 percent increase on the previous year.

(China Daily 12/18/2015 page10)