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The first Chinese tourist group to visit Britain, hailed by many of their British hosts as "ambassadors for China", ended their six-day visit around the island country on Friday.
The visit of the 80-member group, which came just days after the second wave of bomb attacks on London's transportation system, has been a big stir-up in the country.
VIPs, from Prince Andrew to mayor of Manchester, heads of VisitBritain and VisitScotland, held ceremonies wherever the group went, and reporters from major media, such as Reuters, BBC, Independent TV, Times and Daily Telegraph, covered their daily activities.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, said in his welcoming speech that he wished the first Chinese tourist group would act as "ambassadors for China" and bring more friends to Britain.
The Prince's speech was echoed by Mayor of Manchester, Mohammed Afzal Khan, and Tom Wright, head of VisitBritain, who both urged the Chinese group to act as "ambassadors" for promotion of Britain's tourism industry.
In his keynote speech to show his goodwill to the group, Tom Wright, head of VisitBritain which is an arm of the tourism administration of Britain, said that "as the first visitors authorized under the Approved Destination Status (ADS), you are here as ambassadors for your country to be advocate for Britain with some great tales and photographs" to usher in more friends to the country."
The first tourism group is composed of about 50 tourists from Beijing and Shanghai, 15 journalists from China's mainstream media from the two biggest cities of China, and 15 managers from major travel agencies.
The British tourism administration expects that there will be 200,000 Chinese visiting Britain by 2010, a figure put by Wang Zhifa, vice chairman of National Tourism Administration of China, as likely to be reached by as early as 2008.
(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2005)
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