EU needs to do good homework to attract more Chinese visitors

China and the European Union are scheduled to launch the "Year of Tourism" in Venice this week in a bid to further accelerate the two-way flow of travelers and boost their respective tourism sectors.

Europeans find the tourist sites in China as fascinating as the Chinese find the European destinations attractive. The countryside life, cultures, music, arts and cuisines in Europe attract Chinese tourists like magnets, especially the expanding Chinese middle class, which as some figures indicate, has already surpassed the population of the 19 eurozone countries.

The outbound Chinese tourists, due to their competitive purchasing power and expansive leisure demands, will surely help boost Europe's steadily recovering economy. Tourism, in fact, accounts for nearly 10 percent of the EU's total economic output.