CCTV9英语新闻：Internet information-sharing encourages Chinese visitors

As China and Turkey work to revive trade relationships formed on the Ancient Silk Road, Chinese tourists are spreading the word about Turkey as a holiday destination. The market is booming, although there's still some way to go. 

Turkey stands at the crossroads of history, rich in religious significance, a hub of East and West, beautiful, mysterious, exciting. And today, it's also a hotspot for Chinese tourists.

Tourism in Turkey

This is a Turkish cultural center in downtown Beijing. People can shop, eat and mingle here just like at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Another center like this will open in Tianjin next month. Chinese travellers are becoming more curious about the country that sits at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, and they want a taste of the real Turkey.

More than 200,000 Chinese tourists visited Turkey in 2014, and that number is expected to double this year.

The dramatic increase comes for several reasons - closer bilateral exchanges, Turkey's e-visa policy, and most importantly, the power of the Internet that lets more and more Chinese people know about the country.

Chen Gang is the CEO of a travel website that hosts more than 80 million users. He knows that lots of Chinese tourists enjoy being online.

Chen says spontaneous information sharing by his website's patrons has helped trigger the booming interest in Turkey.

At the same time, China's eye-catching celebrity reality shows have brought Turkey's beauty to a large Chinese audience.

Chinese tourists are leaving their footprints all over the world. They made 117 million overseas trips last year. Still, they only accounted for one out of every 200 visitors to Turkey. Turkey is the world's sixth most popular tourism destination and annually attracts more than 40 million foreign tourists.

There is clearly more growth potential. And more work to be done.

Such amenities geared toward Chinese tourists require more collaboration between government departments and companies, and more and deepening communications between the two peoples.