"Traveling in Egypt with the desert and the pyramids has always been my dream,
" says Gu, explaining that it was only now that she could realize that dream.
On the one hand she'd been too busy and on the other it was only in April of
last year that the African country got the Approved Destination Status (ADS)
from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). China started the ADS
designation in 1983, with Hong Kong. What it meant was that a Chinese
citizen could join a group to travel to an ADS country easily. For any or
every other country, the person would have to apply for the visa by himself
or herself. China's growing economy has increased people's desire to travel
abroad. One estimate had Chinese spending more than US$20 billion overseas
in 2001, but did not say how much of that actually came from tourists. Some
countries are starting to view China as a potential source of tourists and
want to get ADS approval. In the past, Chinese tourists were discriminated
against in many countries, such as Australia and Japan. They feared that the
tourists would not return to China and would overstay their visas. So, they
demanded that individuals have a guarantor before issuing a visa. ADS is
intended to eliminate the discrimination with package tours that allow travel
agencies and the Chinese government to act as guarantor so that travellers
won't stay abroad. By the end of 2002, 20 countries had ADS approval. CNTA
officials say that another 10 countries, including India, Sri Lanka and South
Africa, hope to get recognition in two or three years.Zhang Guangrui, director
of the China Social Science Academy's Travel Research Centre, estimates that
more than 15 million Chinese travelled abroad between January and November
last year. About a third of these were independent tourists. Zhang believes that
different types of travel will appear in the next few years. In the 1980s,
Chinese seldom had a chance to travel independently and business trips were
the main form of travel. People rarely had the chance to choose their
destination. Overseas travel started becoming popular in the early 1990s,
but holidays were limited and trips were short and precious. So, people
tended towards package tours of travel agencies. Most of these herded tourists
around several scenic spots for a day or so. "Tourists were too busy to enjoy
the trip," Zhang said.Acting as guarantor is not the only thing Chinese travel
agencies do for customers. They are also opening up new routes with fresh ideas.
"Theme tours have recently become popular. With more countries recognized by
ADS, we are able to design more theme tour routes," Chen says. "At the moment,
we are thinking about offering a Buddhism Tour-a package that links domestic
travel with travel to India and allows tourists to explore the origins of
Buddhism." CYTS already has some theme trips. The Hong Kong Shopping Tour is
one of the most popular. For less than 4,000 yuan, tourists can enjoy a 5-day
shopping trip in Hong Kong.