Early access to China's domestic tourism market will allow foreign travel agencies to better prepare themselves for the country's tourism boom in the years to come.

At the same time, the introduction of foreign competitors also benefits Chinese tourists as they will have more choices and may even enjoy better services.

That is why the decision to fully open its market to foreign travel agencies from July 1, about four months ahead of the deadline it set upon its entry to the World Trade Organization in 2001, is welcome.

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With the country's economic integration with the rest of the world, Chinese citizens travel overseas more and more. China's growth rates of international travel have been astounding in recent years.

Yet, even bigger than the growth in international travel is the surge in domestic travel. There were 1.5 billion trips taken within China in 2006 and this growth is likely to remain solid for several years to come.

Driven by the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, China's tourism industry will predictably witness rapid growth in the years to come.

The World Tourism Organization predicted that China's tourism industry will grow at an annual rate of 8.7 percent in 2007-2016, and China is expected to become the world's second-largest tourist economy within 10 years.

The China National Tourism Administration also estimates that China's tourism industry will pull in a record $128.6 billion of revenues in 2007, an increase of 10 percent over 2006.

In spite of the huge potential of China's tourism market, some domestic travel agencies have complained that fierce competition already cuts deep into their profits.

However, such a view has not taken into account both the interests of tourists and the long-term development of the domestic tourism industry.

It is believed that the introduction of the world-class tourism giants and famous brands can help raise the overall quality of service in the domestic tourism market.

(China Daily 05/19/2007 page4)

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