There was a signing ceremony for a credit cooperation agreement between the Anhui Provincial Tourism Administration and Anhui Agricultural Bank of China in Hefei, Anhui’s capital, on Feb 23, with Hua Jianhui, the vice-governor of the province, Hu Xuefan, head of the Anhui Provincial Tourism Administration, and Gu Zhangyu, president of the bank, taking part.

According to the agreement, the Anhui Agricultural Bank will provide funds for the first 15 key tourism projects, for a total of 5.5 billion yuan ($872.85 million), mainly for developing and maintaining scenic spots and promotion programs, for local restaurants, rural areas, and cultural promotion.

The first 15 projects were selected by the Anhui Agricultural Bank and its branches from a list of tourism projects that accord with the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) for Anhui’s tourism business and the “5233” Plan, a tourism project that covers the entire province. These are significant for improving the province’s tourism industry because of the size of the investment and the business impetus.

The provincial Tourism Administration and Anhui Agricultural Bank signed a cooperation agreement to support the strategic development of Anhui’s tourism industry last November, which called for the bank to provide 30 billion yuan ($4.76 billion) in loans over the next five years to develop the province’s tourism industry.

Hu and Gu both spoke at the signing ceremony and said they had reached a consensus on the cooperation, saying that it is a new stage, with a connection between resources and capital, which will add new energy to exploiting tourism resources. They said they look forward to cooperating at a higher level and in more areas, and to promoting the sustained, healthy development of Anhui’s tourism industry.

By Zhou Yuanyuan (chinadaily.com.cn)