Attractions lure in business travelers (2)

More foreign companies have started to eye Xi'an because the central government has continually promoted the "go-west" campaign.

Samsung Group, headquartered in South Korea, located its new factory in Xi'an in July 2012. The first stage of the project involved $7 billion - the largest single investment from a foreign company in China.

"I believe the project will help the number of South Korean visitors to Xi'an double after the factory begins operating in the middle of 2013," Kang Lifeng said.

There is room for massive growth in South Korean and Japanese visitor numbers, he said, because only 60,000 travelers from the two countries visited Xi'an in 2011, despite both countries being the biggest source of tourists to China.

To attract more business travelers, MICE tourism - meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions - will be the focus of the city's tourist industry.

The city is building up more supporting facilities for MICE tourism.

The Xi'an Qujiang International Conference and Exhibition Group Co Ltd, which holds the most conferences and exhibitions in the city, opened its 76,000-square-meter conference center in December 2011, its exhibition center opened for business in 2007.

The conference and exhibition group saw a significant increase in business in 2012, said Ma Jianming, general manager of the group.

The growing MICE business and the tourism industry complement each other, Ma said.

Only when the city is attractive will exhibitors come, he said, and the tourist attractions in Xi'an lure the non-local exhibitors.