BEIJING - China and Russia will organize over 100 events that are likely to promote culture communications and mutual understanding between the two countries, China's tourism authority said at a news conference for the 2012 Sino-Russia Tourism Year in Beijing on Thursday.

To adopt a consensus to organize a reciprocal Sino-Russian Tourism Year, as proposed by the presidents of the two countries, the two sides agreed to hold a Russia Tourism Year in China this year and a China Tourism Year in Russia in 2013.

President Hu Jintao and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev made that announcement in mutual telegrams of congratulation heralding the coming of the New Year.

Zhu Shanzhong, deputy director general of the China National Tourism Administration, said during the news conference that the 2012 Sino-Russian Tourism Year will further promote the partnership that exists between China and Russia and lead to more mutual understanding between the two countries' people. He added that it would also promote Sino-Russian friendship from generation to generation and make greater contributions to world peace and development.

The Tourism Year's opening ceremony will be held on Friday in the Beijing National Grand Theater. An affiliated cooperation forum is to be held in the China World Hotel on Saturday, at which the theme calls for using cooperation between the countries to make tourism a priority.

Among the 121 events to be held by China this year, the Ministry of Culture will organize various cultural and artistic exchanges and the?Ministry of Health will hold a "journey of Traditional Chinese Medicine" in Russia.

China and Russia exchanged nearly 3.35 million tourists in 2011, and the two countries were important sources of tourists to each other, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

In 2011, about 2.53 million Russians traveled to China, a year-on-year increase of 7 percent, making Russia the third-largest source of tourists to China. The same year also saw more than 800,000 Chinese touring Russia,?making China?the second-largest?source of tourists to?Russia. That number was up 13.88 percent year-on-year, the administration said.

The writer can be reached at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn