The closing ceremony of the 2018 "China-EU Tourism Year" (CETY) was held in Xi'an, Northwestern China's Shaanxi Province on November 17. Officials at all levels congratulated and expressed best wishes for the end of the year-long event.
The ceremony was jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China (MCT) and Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission (DG GROW). The Department of Culture and Tourism of Shaanxi Province co-sponsored it.
Yu Qun, committee member of MCT, Zhao Gang, Vice Governor of Shaanxi Province, Lowri Evans, Director General of DG GROW delivered speeches respectively. Diplomatic envoys and representatives of Chinese and European tourism enterprises attended the event.
In his speech, Yu said that the successful implementation of the 2018 CETY and the booming tourism in China and Europe have once again confirmed the love for life among the people in China and Europe, their enthusiasm for exploring the world and their aspiration to understand each other. China is willing to take the event as an opportunity to deepen its cooperation in the field of tourism with the EU and its member states so as to inject new impetus into the development of China-EU relations.
Zhao said the closing ceremony of the 2018 CETY provides the EU and the world with an opportunity to understand and cooperate with Shaanxi. In light of "Belt and Road Initiative", Shaanxi will continue to promote exchanges and cooperation in tourism with EU countries.
Evans spoke highly of the fruitful achievements of the 2018 CETY, thanked China for its contribution to the successful implementation, and said she would continue to work with China to lift China-EU relations to a new level.
On January 19, 2018, the 2018 CETY kicked off in Venice, Italy. In the past year, China and the EU have organized more than 100 promotional events in various forms under the framework of the CETY and the events have aroused extensive interest from all sectors in China and Europe.
