Chinese envoy to be special guest at Nehru Trophy boat race

Thiruvananthapuram, July 28  China's Ambassador to India Le Yucheng will be a special guest at the 63rd Nehru Trophy race at the expansive backwaters of Alappuzha on August 8.

Ambassador Le will be arriving in the state on a four-day visit on August 7 at the invitation of state Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson.

Le's visit assumes significance as it is taking place barely a month after a hugely successful foray into the Chinese outbound tourism market by Kerala Tourism.

"The Chinese ambassador's visit to Kerala is a positive response to the visit of senior representatives of the state government to China only a month ago," said Tourism Minister A.P. Anilkumar, who had led the high-profile delegation to China.

"The Ambassador's visit to witness an important cultural symbol of Kerala will create a positive wave about our state among the Chinese tourists and tour operators," he said, adding it will go a long way in attracting more and more Chinese tourists to the state.

Chinese tourists, who numbered 107 million according to figures available for 2013, constitute the world's largest outbound tourism market. They are considered the highest spending tourists globally.

There has been an increase of 33.45 percent of Chinese tourist inflow to Kerala in 2014 compared to the previous year.