The 6th International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism opens in Beijing on Wednesday, June 23, 2010. [Photo:CRIENGLISH.com]

Christine Brew, an officer from the Word Tourism Organization, gives a speech at the opening ceremony. [Photo:CRIENGLISH.com]

China is expected to become the world's number one travel destination by 2020 and receive about 130 million international visitors, announced Christine Brew, representing the World Tourism Organization at the 6th International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism (IFCOT) which opened in Beijing on Wednesday.

In 2009, in spite of the adverse economic climate globally, China's outbound tourism maintained a steady growth with a five percent increase, which gave much confidence in the above prediction, the UNWTO officer said.

Moreover, the beneficiary of China's outbound tourism growth has gone beyond its borders. Maldives, for example, admits that the huge number of Chinese tourists it received in 2009 helped lift its international arrivals from minus fifteen percent to minus four percent.

So far, 139 countries have signed the Approved Destination Status agreement with China in order to receive groups of Chinese tourists.

Du Jiang, Vice Chairman of China's National Tourism Administration, who was also present at the opening of IFCOT, noted that with the achievement of becoming the fastest growing nation in Asia's outbound tourism market, now the priority is how to improve the service quality of China's tourism industry, which is the purpose of this year's IFCOT.

Now in its sixth year, IFCOT dedicates its theme to "Quality Service, Product Improvement and Sustainable Growth." The two-day event features forums with guests including tourism officials and top travel agencies in Asian countries, participating in discussions centering on the region's tourism development.