India tourism office to open in Beijing
India tourism office to open in Beijing
Beijing: An India Tourism Office will be opened here early next year to attract more visitors from China which accounted for a mere 50,000 out of 4.43 million tourists to India last year.
This is part of a series of ongoing activities as the year 2007 is being celebrated as the India-China Year of Friendship through Tourism, India’s Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao said at an ‘Incredible India´ event here.
The China Tourism office has already been opened in New Delhi.
She said with growing prosperity, both nations had become important sources of outbound tourism not only for business but also for pleasure.
Both countries had most easily recognizable symbols of travel and tourism the world over like the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. Yet not many from the two countries had seen both.
India received 4.43 million visitors in 2006 but only about 50,000 of them were Chinese. Similarly, China received 25 million foreign visitors last year, but only 400,000 were Indians.
Rao said as part of the Tourism Year celebrations, several exchange programmes had been launched involving tour operators and travel agents for exhibitions and travel fairs as well as students and faculty from catering and hotel management institutes for study visits.
Diplomats, members of the diplomatic community and International Members Party of the elite Capital Club, Beijing, tasted Indian flavours, as they were treated to a combination of classical dance, music, cuisine and yoga at the event early this week.
Jin Shanshan, who has devoted 20 years to the studies in the Indian Dance Theories and mastered the art of the dances, held the elite audience spell bound with her Bharathanatyam dance. She has been teaching Bharatanatyam in Beijing since 1996.
Indian Ocean, a popular contemporary fusion music band from India which has been performing at prestigious events in India and abroad, wowed the gathering with a riveting concert.
The yoga demonstration was given by YogiYoga centre in Beijing which has been spreading its wings with its branches across China.
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