The first United States-bound Chinese leisure tour group is set to depart on June 17, signaling a new era in Sino-U. S. relations, a senior official said.

Shao Qiwei, head of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), will escort the inaugural tour group to Washington DC. Their arrival will coincide with the fourth China-U. S. Strategic Economic Dialogue, which would be hosted by the city.

Shao told a press conference yesterday CNTA is pleased the bilateral tourism relationship is moving in a new, positive direction.

The nations signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) last December to open outbound tour-group travel from China to the U. S.

After five months of talks, CNTA and the U. S. Department of Commerce agreed on the details, saying they would move forward in steps. The first phase will last six months, during which time only nine provinces and municipalities can organize U. S. -bound tour groups, Shao said. Group members must be residents with hukou (permanent residence registrations) in Beijing, Tianjin or Shanghai municipalities, or Hebei, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, he said.

Domestic tour operators with licenses in the nine municipalities and provinces to run outbound tourism operations can organize U. S. -bound tour groups, he said. There are no restrictions on tourists' U. S. destinations.

Launching the first phase should bring any problems to the surface, CNTA marketing and communications department director Zhu Shanzhong said. "At the end of the six-month period, we will sit down and talk about what to do in the next phase."

U. S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the increased visitation from China would help reduce the US trade deficit with China.

Partly because the U. S. now issues tourist visas only to individuals in China, and few Chinese are aware of such visas, the country's trade deficit with China in the sector stands at 685 million U. S. dollars, he said.

The MOU would open China's market to the U. S., and businesses, including tour operators, airlines, hotels and banks, are expected to benefit.

Noel Irwin Hentschel, chairman and CEO of Americantours International LLC, told China Daily she expects dramatic increases in visitations from China, which could start from 2009.

Dennis C.M. Wong, general sales manager of the Northern China region of United Airlines, said the airline would also benefit in the long term, with profits likely to rise by at least 10 percent.