China is geared up to attract US tourists to its destinations along the Maritime Silk Road.

A delegation of more than 70 travel professionals from 14 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities as well as China Youth Travel Service will visit the US and Canada from Sept 20 to 23 to promote the Maritime Silk Road, a Chinese strategic initiative to increase investment and foster collaboration across the historic Silk Road.

With the theme of Beautiful China – Journey along the Maritime Silk Road, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) will launch a series of campaigns, where the Maritime Silk Road-related provinces and cities, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong, will promote their particular tourist attractions and give away free gifts.

Campaigns in Vancouver (Sept 20) and Houston (Sept 22) will be trade events, with a delegation of airlines representatives, tour operators, travel media and government officials.

An event in Miami will be open to the public and feature live performances and videos highlighting tourism destinations. The three-hour event will start at 5 pm on Sept 23 at Miami Dolphin Mall.

“This year marks China-US Tourism Year and the Year of Silk Road Tourism. We hope to take advantage of this momentum to promote Chinese tourist resources in the North American market,” said Xiaopeng Pan, deputy director of the China National Tourist Office in New York.

From January to April, we had about 720,000 Americans traveling to China; the increase was over 8.3%, the highest in recent five years.

“We have received positive feedback from international tourists who traveled in China,” said Pan. “One of the important reasons is China has achieved rapid growth and its tourism infrastructure and services have also made great improvements.”

The challenge now is to learn how to promote China’s tourist resources in ways that appeal to Americans, she said.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com