The Chinese government aims to help 12 million people out of poverty by boosting tourism in thenext five years, Premier Li Keqiang announced on Thursday.

Li made the remark at the opening ceremony of the first World Conference on Tourism forDevelopment, held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The conference, proposed by the Chinese government and jointly hosted with the United Nations World Tourism Organization, drew more than 600 representatives from 107 countries.

Most of China's poverty-stricken regions are in remote and mountainous areas, and such places have natural advantages for developing the tourism industry, Li said. He added that tourism is animportant means for poverty reduction.

Tourism plays an important role in China's supply-side economic reform and the upgrade of China's industrial structure, and the government will develop tourism and protect the environmentat the same time, he said.

The premier called on all countries to ease visa policies, simplify entry procedures and protecttravelers' interests to boost tourism worldwide. China will carry out 50 tourism projects within ternational cooperation in the next five years to help the global economy recover, he said.

China is the largest tourism source market in the world, according to the China National TourismAdministration.

About 120 million Chinese traveled overseas last year and spent a total of 684 billion yuan($104.5 billion), it said.

UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, who attended the ceremony, said, "China is a leader intourism and a nation that knows exactly what tourism is able to do for economic and social development."

(CHINADAILY.com.cn May 20, 2016)