About 2,500 Chinese and foreign performers will gather on Qianmen Street for the start of the 12th Beijing International Tourism Festival on Sept 19.

In addition to Beijing Opera singers, traditional dancers and participants in ancient Chinese costumes, performers from 22 countries and regions will take part in the opening ceremony for the event that is all about attracting more tourists.

Zhang Huiguang, director of the Beijing Tourism Administration Bureau, said the festival will also stage events at three sub-venues - Olympic Landscape Avenue, Xidan Square and Solana Lifestyle Shopping Park.

While the marketing will doubtless do no harm, Beijing is already making a name for itself on the international stage. About 2.75 million international travelers visited the capital between January and July, which is about 25 percent more than visited during the same period last year, according to a report released by the Beijing Statistics Bureau in August.

According to the report, 388,000 of those tourists were from the United States, 308,000 from Japan and 301,000 from South Korea. The three countries are the major sources of the city's inbound tourism market.

"We selected a few performance groups from some countries and regions this time and we hope to share the beauty of Beijing with these overseas markets through them," said Fang Zehua, deputy director of the municipal tourism bureau.

Fang said a 40-member dance group from Taiwan will attend the opening event.

Some 15 vintage cars from China, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Japan will also be seen in the opening parade, which will be themed "world city, beautiful Beijing".

Developing Beijing into a "World City" on the tourism map is the goal of the tourism bureau, Zhang said.

"We hope more people from around the world will get to know the beauty of Beijing and Beijing can get closer to its goals through more international events like this," said Zhang.

During the three-day festival, 14 top tourism agencies from the capital and representatives from 16 county tourism offices will set up information desks and promote tours for the upcoming National Day Golden Week.

China Daily

(China Daily 09/14/2010)