Consul General Liu Biwei attended China tourism promotion ceromony

Distinguished guests, Borough President Virginia Fields, Councilman John Liu, Mr.Zhu, good evening!

I am very glad to have this opportunity to meet you all at this beautiful place in central park. I just arrived at New York last weekend, though it’s not my first time here, I was still impressed by the hustle and bustle in this world class metropolis. But we all remember that in the wake of 911, the tourism in New York was badly hurt at a time. Thanks to its great resilience, the city managed to recover very quickly. The streets in Manhattan are now as crowded as before and the theatres on Broadway have full house night after night. While we largely attribute the recovery to the city’s inimitable charisma, we shall also give credit to the promotion efforts from all levels in the city that have brought the people back.

Similarly, as you know,the tourism in China also suffered significantly from an unexpected disaster, the SARS epidemic.But it’s reassuring to see that because of the resolute measures taken by the government,we were able to get the epidemic under effective control within a short period of time.Now the tourism has gradually returned to the thriving scene before the SARS. I just came from Beijing, I can tell you that all the major restaurants in Beijing are once again packed and we began to see more and more foreign tourists on the Great Wall. Meanwhile, the volume of visa issuance in our Consulate has also returned to the normal level before SARS.

Ladies and Gentlemen, despite the impact of SARS, China’s economic growth for the first half of the year still reached 8.2% and we are confident to reach the projected 7% growth for the whole year. New changes are taking place in China day by day, especially in Beijing where all kinds of infrastructure constructions are underway in preparation for the 2008 Olympic games. For all of you who are present tonight, if you have been to China before, I am sure your next trip will bring you new discoveries and refreshing feelings. If you haven’t, then you have every reason to expect a trip with a memory of lifetime.

Ladies and Gentlemen, traveling is not merely a recreation, more importantly, it gives us the opportunity to get to know different cultures and different people, thus promote the understanding between each other. With the development of China- U.S relationship, we see growing personnel exchange and bilateral visits each year, all this help expand the cooperation and communication between our two countries. Whether you come to China for sightseeing, for business or for study, China always opens her arms to you! And the Consulate would provide service and help to all of our friends.

Before I finish, I would like to say that I am truly happy to get to know all of you today. As I am quite new to New York, I look forward to knowing better about this city and having more opportunities to talk to my new friends here. I hope our friendship and cooperation would lead to the further development of our bilateral relationship. Thank you!