Although the year of 2009 was marked with global financial crisis and the H1N1 flu, the tourism and commercial industries have created miracles in Hangzhou.

In 2009, about 2.3 million overseas tourists visited Hangzhou, which saw a year-on-year increase of 3.5%. Foreign exchange increased by 6.5% with1.38 billion dollars.

Meanwhile, 50 million domestic travelers came to Hangzhou during the last year, creating an income of 80 billion yuan. These figures are much higher than the original expectation. According to the National Tourism Administration, Hangzhou ranks No. 1 as far as tourists’ satisfaction in 2009 was concerned.

The Hangzhou government worked to promote tourism. It issued 250 million tourist coupons in February and in May to tourists from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. Among those, 17.15% were redeemed.

Hangzhou also hosted many international conferences in 2009, including the International Golden Key Annual Conference, the World Airline Road Race (WARR), PATA （Pacific Asia Travel Association）Travel Mart and the 5th International Conference on Destination Management.

In addition, Hangzhou also hosted activities such as the West Lake International Tea Culture Expo and the West Lake International Expo. All attracted foreigners.

As a neighbor of Shanghai, Hangzhou is destined to meet more challenges and opportunities in 2010 with the coming Shanghai World Expo.

By Hu Yanxiang

Editor: Lency