China and India are home to the world's two largest populations, with rising middle classes in each nation making tens of millions of tourist trips overseas each year.
However, tourists from the neighboring countries do not appear to be interested enough in each other.
Speaking at a launch ceremony for the "Indian Tourism Year" in Beijing, Chinese Vice Premier
Wang Yang says both countries need to make efforts to attract tourists from each other.
"People from our two nations have made just a small number of visits to each other. The total number of two-way visits only amounted to below 900-thousand last year with only 170-thousand visits made by Chinese to India. This situation is not in line with the two nations' massive populations, the gigantic size of their markets and their huge tourist resources. So there is huge potential for us to tap into."
The "Indian Tourism Year" will feature a series of activities across China promoting India's tourist resources among Chinese residents. A reciprocal "Chinese Tourism Year" will be held in India next year.
The tourism-year activities are to implement an agreement reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last September.
India's Ambassador to China, Ashok K. Kantha, is making an appeal to Chinese tourists.
"India, like China, is a vast country with varied cultures and traditions across every region. From temples to beaches and mountains, from classic arts and Bollywood to Yoga, and shopping, India is a rich multi-level sensory, spiritual and emotional experience."
The two nations now aim to bring the number of two-way tourist visits to more than one million by the end of next year, an increase of some 10 percent from last year.
To reach this target, Chinese tourism officials say the two sides will work together to simplify visa
procedures, increase direct flights and improve service levels.
The two sides will also develop new travel packages and routes as well as strengthen communication and coordination to safeguard the safety of tourists.
Tourism authorities are expected to revive an ancient pilgrimage route taken by Chinese monk Xuan Zang about 14-hundred years ago.
Xuan Zang is a cultural icon in the Buddhist exchanges between ancient China and India. His legendary 16-year "Journey to the West" started from the modern Chinese city of Xi'an with a destination in the modern Indian state of Bihar.
Source: CRI
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