Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of a ‘Chinese-US Tourism Year’ for 2016, during a speech he made in Seattle last week as the two nations aim to grow traffic between the two countries.

The two countries will plan events, to take place next year, with the aim of expanding cooperation between American states and Chinese provinces, while making it easier for US and Chinese tourists to travel.

Li Jinzao, Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), also recently met with tourism heads last week at the 21st General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Medellín, Colombia.

At the event Jinzao vowed to work with leaders in both countries to make the year of tourism a success and said he will continue to work closely with UNWTO and other global tourism leaders in the coming year, as China was voted to host the 22nd UNWTO General Assembly, which will take place in May 2016.

Tourism between the two countries continues to grow and 250m visitors travelled between China and the US in the past eight years, an increase of 7.6% year-on-year.

The number of tourists travelling between the two countries currently exceeds 4m a year, but Jinzao said he hopes to see that number top 5m in the near future.