On July 14, CNTA vice chairman Du Jiang received the visiting French delegation headed by Council President of the Centre-Val de Loire Region François Bonneau in Beijing. Both sides exchanged views on how to strengthen bilateral tourism cooperation, in particular at the local level.

 

To begin with, Du welcomed the guests on behalf of CNTA chairman Li Jinzao. He then said, “China and France are two major tourist countries in the world, boasting abundant tourism resources, unique advantages and rich development experience. Local cooperation is key part of Sino-French tourism cooperation and CNTA would continue to support Centre-Val de Loire Region’s marketing efforts in China and actively help it strengthen contacts and deepen cooperation with local authorities in China.” He added, “Many a pioneering Chinese revolutionaries used to study and work in Centre-Val de Loire. I suggest we launch red tourism cooperation as we did with Russia to enrich the content of Sino-French tourism cooperation.”

 

President François Bonneau introduced the basic facts about the Centre-Val de Loire Region. He said that his government highly valued the Chinese market and hoped to tighten cooperation with the Chinese government to lure more Chinese tourists to the region.

 

Also present at the meeting were senior officials from CNTA Department of Tourism Promotion and International Liaison, the Commission for Tourism Development of Centre-Val de Loire and China-France friendship association in Montargis.