On November 12, the mayor of Lansing, Michigan, USA, Virgil Bernero, visited Xiamen with his wife and entourage. Xiamen mayor Liu Keqing gave a warm reception to the delegation and had a friendly talk with Mr. Bernero.
The delegation also paid a visit to Gulangyu Island, during which Liu introduced the history of the island to the guests.
According to Liu, more than 10 million tourists visit Gulangyu Island every year, while Michigan, the state where the city of Lansing resides, is also a popular tourism destination in America, and receives more than 20 million tourists every year. There are a lot of cooperation opportunities in the area of tourism between the two cities.
Xiamen has been introducing its tourism industry to overseas countries in recent years. For instance, the Xiamen government cooperated with the U.S Leisure Industry Research Center on a reputation investigation & marketing campaigns for Xiamen’s tourism industry last September. The Xiamen government also set up the “USA Advising Center for Xiamen (China) Tourism” in Lansing this year.
According to statistics, in 2013, Xiamen welcomed 82,500 American visitors who stayed in Xiamen for more than one night. In the first 9 months of 2014, the number of American visitors who stayed in Xiamen for more than one night reached 75,000, up 26.63% compared with the same period of the previous year.
