A maritime travel route linking south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Ha Long Vinh of Vietnam has resumed operation after a suspension of more than three months.

Travel services on the route were suspended due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to tourism sources in Guangxi.

More than 400 tourists from across China took the "Minghui Princess" passenger liner from Beihai of Guangxi to Ha Long Vinh late Friday, according to the Beihai City Tourism Bureau.

Launched five years ago, the sea route, linking the Silver Beach of Beihai and the Gold Beach of Dongxing in Guangxi with Ha Long Vinh, has attracted more than 100,000 tourists from China and other countries and regions around the world.

More and more Chinese go sight-seeing in foreign countries in recent years as their income increases. The nearby southeast Asian countries are often the first choices.

According to statistics from the tourism authorities of Vietnam, the country hosted 2.6 million overseas tourists in 2002, 27.7 percent of which were from China.

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