Lancang-Mekong tourism boosted by new cooperation initiative

"The implementation of the visa-free policy has greatly facilitated Chinese tourists to travel to Malaysia," said Lee Thai Hung, deputy director-general of the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, at the conference's opening ceremony. Malaysia has been designated as the guest country of this year's event. He added that in the first three months after the visa-free policy began, the number of Chinese tourists to Malaysia increased by 30 percent year-on-year.

According to Tao Xiaofeng, deputy director-general of the General Office of the Chongqing Municipal Government, the municipality is accelerating its efforts to become a world-renowned cultural and tourism destination, a national model for high-quality cultural and tourism development and a leading area for integrated cultural and tourism development in China's western region.