Zhu Shanzhong Meeting with Idevkhten, Vice Minister of Nature, Environment and Tourism of Mongolia

On March 25, Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of CNTA met with the delegation from Mongolian Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism headed by Vice Minister Idevkhten. The two parties introduced their domestic tourism respectively and exchanged their views on strengthening tourism exchanges and cooperation between the two countries.

At the outset, Zhu Shanzhong introduced the Chinese tourism to the guests. According to him, China’s inbound tourists witnessed a slight drop due to the negative effects of natural disasters and international financial crisis last year, but the domestic tour and outbound tour enjoyed favorable development momentum. The domestic tourism achieved 1.7 billion person-times, equivalent to over one tour per capita. The outbound tourism involved 45.24 million person-times, up 12%.
As Zhu Shanzhong said, China and Mongolia are adjacent to each other and Mongolia is one of major tourist sources for China. In 2008, Mongolian tourists of about 700,000 person-times came to visit China while Chinese tourists of about 150,000 person-times came to visit Mongolia. The two countries should tighten their exchanges and cooperation in tourism and make joint efforts to develop the tourist market. Meanwhile, Zhu Shanzhong hoped that Mongolia can continue to assign the delegation to attend the China International Tourism Fair to be held in Kunming in November 2009. 

Idevkhten introduced the development conditions of Mongolian tourism industry. According to him, Mongolian infrastructure and transit service have been greatly enhanced for recent years. Since China is an important source market of Mongolia, the two countries have a broad scope of cooperation. China has accumulated an abundant experience in tourist communications, hotel management and staff training, and Mongolia can learn a lot from it. He hoped that the two countries could deepen understanding, strengthen cooperation and share resources.

The two parties also exchanged their views on developing the third country’s tourist market, and introducing the linked tourism products.

Other attendants from China include the CNTA’s related department and office leaders.