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The Chinese ambassador to India, Mr. Le Yucheng, may have missed his country's famous dragon boat race, a national holiday in China, but he did not miss Kerala's iconic snake boat race.
Mr. Le witnessed the 63rd Nehru Trophy boat race at the expansive backwaters of the Punnamada in Alappuzha. He was the special guest at the event, named after Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The Chinese envoy to India arrived in Kerala on a four-day visit on August 7. Mr. Le's visit assumes significance as it is taking place barely a month after a hugely successful foray into the Chinese outbound tourism market by Kerala Tourism.
“The Chinese ambassador's visit to Kerala is a positive response to the visit of senior representatives of the State government to China only a month ago. The Ambassador's visit to witness an important cultural symbol of Kerala will create a positive wave about our State among the Chinese tourists and tour operators. It will go a long way in attracting more and more Chinese tourists to the State," said Mr. A. P. Anilkumar, Minister for Tourism, Kerala
Chinese tourists, who numbered 107 million according to figures available for 2013, constitute the world's largest outbound tourism market. They are considered the highest spending tourists globally.
Following its successful entry into new and emerging markets in the past few years, Kerala Tourism is preparing to tap the vast Chinese market to substantially increase foreign tourist arrivals to the State. There has been an increase of 33.45% in Chinese tourist arrivals to Kerala in 2014 compared to the previous year.
