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Li Keqiang

BEIJING. – China has vowed to help 12 million people out of poverty in the next five years through tourism development and strengthening international tourism cooperation.

Premier Li Keqiang made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the First World Conference on Tourism Development held at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing yesterday morning.

He said most of China’s impoverished people live in poor and remote areas, which face difficulties in developing agriculture and industry, but have unique advantages for developing tourism.

Many remote and poor areas have already reduced poverty through tourism development.

Li said tourism will help China foster a new driving force for development, achieve entrepreneurship and innovation, reduce poverty and enhance friendship with other countries.

China will treat tourism as an important area for promoting structural reform, especially supply-side structural reform and economic development. China will open the tourist market to non-governmental capital, deepen cooperation with foreign capital, strengthen hardware construction and market supervision, Li noted.

According to Li, the tourism industry directly contributed 4,9 percent of GDP in 2015 and directly employed nearly 28 million people. – Xinhua.