Advertiser Staff
The Hawai‘i Visitors and Convention Bureau will enter into an agreement this morning to create special ties with tourism bureaus in four cities in northeast China: Changchun, Dalian, Harbin and Shenyang.
The so-called sister-bureau friendship and cooperation agreements are intended to create good will, further cultural exchange and help parties in sharpening their tourism marketing programs.
Tony Vericella, the Hawai‘i bureau’s chief executive officer, said the agency can share its innovative techniques with the Chinese visitors.
"At the same time," he said, "we can learn a great deal from them about the current state of inbound and outbound tourism in China and the factors that will drive international tourism from China in the years ahead."
Local business and community leaders have long eyed the potential for trade and tourism with China.
Shenyang is the fifth largest city in China, with 6.7 million people. The port city of Dalian ranks as the busiest export harbor. Both cities are in Liaoning province.
Farther north is Changchun, a city of almost 3 million in Jilin province. Harbin, a city of 1 million in the northernmost province of Heilongjiang, is known within China as the "lesser Paris of the East," for its mix of foreign architectural styles.
