Delegates from Anhui, a province located in the southeast of China, are visiting Northern California to boost bilateral tourism with the US.

The tourism official delegation, led by Shi Linhua, deputy director of Anhui Provincial Tourism Administration, introduced the tourism environment of his province and expressed an eagerness to reach agreements to expand tourism links between Anhui and the US at a reception in Foster City, California on Wednesday.

"There is a solid foundation for the exchange and cooperation of Anhui and US tourism," Shi said. "In recent years, the communication between the two have become closer, the cooperation deeper and the level higher."

According to Shi, Anhui welcomed 171,800 US visitors in 2012, up 30 percent from the year before, and the US has become the fourth largest inbound destination for Anhui tourists.

Shi said Anhui is working to make the province a more convenient international destination. "Anhui attaches great importance to tourism cooperation with the US and would consider the US as its top partner in tourism development," he said.

"We warmly welcome the Anhui delegation to Foster City," said Steve Okamoto, council member at Foster City, located near San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

"Foster City is known for its safe and green environment. We rank 19th out of 50 on the list of safest cities in California," Okamoto said. "Foster City is small, with only 31,000 residents, however, more than 40 percent are Asian. Now, we are trying to create sister city relationships with Chinese cities."

The China-US bilateral tourist exchange is on a fast track. According to China's National Tourism Administration, 1.47 million Chinese travelers visited the US in 2012 and that number is increasing at a rate of 35 percent annually, a figure that puts China far ahead of all other countries visiting the US.

Last year, two-way tourism between China and the US expanded to 3.8 million annually and is increasing at a rate of 10 percent a year. China's National Tourism Administration predicts the bilateral tourist exchange will reach 5 million in 2015, with tourists from China to US doubling.

In April, a delegation from Qingdao, Shandong province, visited California to set up a trade office in San Francisco. In May, the vice mayor of Zibo, a city in central Shandong, led a delegation to California to launch Hanhai Zibo Life Science Park, the first US China Life Science Park, in Burlingame, California. Later, a delegation from Suzhou Industrial Park, Jiangsu province, conducted a talent exchange and entrepreneurship conference at Silicon Valley to hunt and recruit talent.

California Governor Jerry Brown led a week-long trade mission to China last April. The visit has yielded many fruitful results, including a "landmark agreement" that brought California, China's Ministry of Commerce and six Chinese provinces together, to expand trade and investment opportunities as well as strengthen local business cooperation.

"The memorandum of understanding identifies nine key sectors for cooperation, including infrastructure, biotechnology, information technology, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, tourism, environmental protection and exhibitions," said Xia Xiang, commercial counselor at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.

yuwei12@chinadailyusa.com