China and Denmark launched the China-Denmark Tourism Year 2017 in Beijing on Friday, aiming to boost travel and tourism.

President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the opening ceremony of the event, saying that the people of China and Denmark enjoy a long history of friendship.

"Danish author Hans Christian Andersen mentioned China in several of his works, showing the Danish people's longing for China," he said.

The president said he hopes the two sides will promote friendship, strengthen cultural and people-to-people exchanges and inject new impetus into the development of the China-Denmark Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

According to the China National Tourism Administration, the tourism year will conclude in Denmark in December.

Tourism exchanges between China and Denmark have increased in recent years.

More than 210,000 visits between the two countries were recorded last year, said Li Jinzao, head of the administration, on Friday.

"China has the largest outbound tourism industry. In the next five years, Chinese outbound tourists will make 700 million visits. The development of China's tourism industry will bring opportunities to countries including Denmark," he said.

During the seven-day Spring Festival holiday that began on January 28, the number of bookings for travel from China to Denmark increased by 33 percent compared with last year's Spring Festival holiday, accounting for 8 percent of total outbound trips, according to Lvmama, an online travel agency based in Shanghai.

Gan Tingting, publicity officer at Lvmama, said the peak season for travel to Denmark is from June to August, and tours of Denmark normally take nine days.

"More than half of Chinese tourists to Denmark were born after 1980. They prefer to take long and thorough trips," she said.

suzhou@chinadaily.com.cn