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SPANISH Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, yesterday stressed Spain's strengths in terms of tourism to the main tour operators of the Asian country during a lunch meeting hosted by the Spanish Embassy in Beijing.

The Prime Minister said that his government's intention is to stimulate Chinese tourism to Spain.
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero wished to underline the interest within the Spanish tourism sector to attract more visitors from China, “a country that is very strong at the moment and experiencing considerable growth”.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero referred to Spain's leading position in the tourism sector, “in which we are a global powerhouse” with 54 million visitors per year.

The Prime Minister described the event as an “exceptional meeting with Chinese business leaders as a result of the interest we have in this country”.
Spain aims to take advantage of the exponential rise of tourism in China.
The World Tourism Organisation believes that, as middle-class incomes increase and visa applications to other nations are simplified, China will have become the largest emitting market in the world for tourists travelling to other countries by 2010 .

FIFTH LARGEST MARKET
China is already the fifth largest emitting market in the world in terms of tourists and Spain is the second most popular tourism destination in Europe.

Spain is fourth on the list of tourist preferences in the Asian country; behind France, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The tourism sector in China is already highly-dominated by state-run tour operators.
In fact, the two main agencies in the country are managed by the government: the Chinese International Travel Service (CITS) and the Chinese Youth Travel Service. Spain is also targetting India as another new client.