More than 100,000 tourism co-operative agreements, letters of intent and contracts were signed at the China £¨Jinan£© International Tourism Fair which ended on Saturday,according to today's China Daily.

More than 4,000 travel agencies, tourist resorts and hotels gathered in the capital city of East China's Shandong Province seeking new co-operative opportunities during the fair.

Sponsored by the Jinan city government and the Shandong Tourism Bureau, the first international tourism fair of the province attracted large delegations from 22 provinces and participants from more than 20 countries, including Germany, Austria, Thailand, France, the Republic of Korea and the United States.

The Jinan Paomaling Tourism District signed more than 700 co-operative agreements, ranking first among exhibitors.

The political, economic, cultural and financial centre of Shandong, Jinan - also known as the City of Springs - abounds in tourism attractions. Baotu Spring, Qianfo Mountain, Daming Lake, the relics of Longshan culture and Lingyan Temple are popular among visitors.

According to Wang Tianyi, vice-mayor of Jinan, the city began developing tourism as one of its pillar industries last year. In the January-June period of this year, 4.3 million tourists visited the city, bringing in a total tourism income of 3 billion yuan£¨US$363 million), up by two digits compared with the same period last year.

During the week-long Labour Day holiday in May, more than a million people visited Jinan, making it the most frequented city in the province.

-- source: Xinhua News Agency

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