By Louise Ho (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-27 09:16

Hong Kong and Guilin, a tourist city in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, will form a tourism alliance to bring mutual benefits to both cities.

The alliance, which will allow Hong Kong travel agents to open branches in the form of wholly-owned enterprises in Guilin, will bring a tourism network of 1 billion people to Hong Kong's travel industry, Guilin deputy mayor Chen Jianjun said.

"The alliance will enhance contact and cooperation and make it easier to solve questions of common concerns," he said.

Eight big-scale Hong Kong travel agents such as Hong Tai Travel Services Ltd and Kwan Kin Travel Services Ltd will join the alliance, said Li Zhigang, director-general of Guilin Municipal Tourism Bureau.

The signing ceremony for the mutual cooperation will be held when the Guilin government officials visit Hong Kong this week.

The move comes as Guilin, the world-famous picturesque city, is set to use tourism as the driving force to boost the city's development.

"As the first batch of tourism cities that opened to the world as early as in 1980s, Guilin is a window of national tourism," he said.

"Tourism has an irreplaceable position in Guilin's economy," he said.

The city received 13.38 million visitors in 2006. The number of inbound visitors touched a new high of 1.1 million, an 11 percent growth compared to 2005.

The city's total revenue from tourism is 68 billion yuan, an 18.6 percent increase compared to 2005.

Hong Kong has been Guilin's major overseas investor.

Until July there are 665 approved Hong Kong enterprises operating in Guilin, which is 44 percent of total number of overseas enterprises.

Hong Kong investment is US$11 billion or 43 percent of overseas investment.

"As an international metropolis and tourism location, Hong Kong has the experience and advantages in capital and management to help develop Guilin's tourism.

"Guilin, on the other hand, has beautiful scenery and historical heritage.

"Related tourism facilities such as luxurious hotel and resort, and service industry such as restaurants and cafes, are still insufficient at the moment.

"The cooperation in tourism has lot of potential and will have a high return for Hong Kong investors," Chen said.

The number of Hong Kong visitors touched over 70,000 for the first half of this year, which is 10 percent of total inbound visitors, he said.

"Although Guilin is a popular tourism location for Hong Kong people," he said. "Hong Kong visitors are not too aware of the changes in the city, like the introduction of new attraction 'Impression-Liu San Jie', a show connecting Guilin's nature and people".

"We therefore have to step up promotion among Hong Kong visitors," he said.

However, tourism only generates 6 billion yuan or 10 percent of Guilin's income, Chen said, adding that the government would bring overseas investment in other industries.

For the first half of this year actual overseas investment was worth US$90 million, mostly from the rich areas in the east and west, he said.

"We can make use of the opportunity of the transfer of industries in the east," he said.