Tourism promotion campaign "Glamorous Beijing" is now underway in South America.
First stop: Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
For 30 years, Beijing and Rio have been sister-cities, but the relationship has not yet reflected in tourism numbers.
The photo exhibition promotes Beijing's main tourist sites, tourism infrastructure, and specialty tours.
"We hope the event will help people in Rio know more about Beijing. At the same time, we hope tourists from other countries now coming to Rio will get a glimpse of what Beijing has to offer and will also be interested in traveling there some day," said Song Yu, director, Beijing Commission of Tourism Development.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of a sister-city tie between Rio de Janeiro and Beijing. But neither country is bringing large numbers of tourists from the other.
"The total amount of Chinese tourists that travel abroad has reached 110 million, but the yearly number of travelers to Brazil is less than 100,000, which is relatively small," Song said.
Beijing has already taken steps to attract tourists, such as reimbursements of local taxes and preferential policies toward international tourism agencies.
