A?photo exhibition entitled "Beautiful China, Beautiful South Korea" kicks off in South Korea's southern island Jeju on May 20, 2016.??[Photo/Xinhua]

JEJU, South Korea - A photo exhibition kicked off in South Korea's southern island Jeju Friday to promote China-South Korea year of tourism and boost people-to-people exchanges between two countries.

Organized by State Council Information Office (SCIO) of China and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea, "Beautiful China, Beautiful South Korea" photo show features the beautiful landscape and splendid culture of the two countries. The 150 photos on display were provided by both sides' media including Xinhua News Agency.

Addressing the opening ceremony at International Peace Center in Jeju, Deputy Director of SCIO Guo Weimin said the media have been playing a vital role in strengthening Sino-South Korean relations since the two sides established diplomatic relations 24 years ago.

He said that China-South Korea relations have made stride and historic breakthroughs in a comparatively short period of time, mainly duo to their mutual political trust, economic and trade cooperation, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

Guo added that the media from both countries have focused more on each other recently and have been deepening mutual communication which push the bilateral relations forward and improve friendship between the two peoples.

The exhibition was one of the cultural exchange events between media from both counties, Guo said, hoping they could take this opportunity of the 2016 South Korean Tourism Year to reinforce communication and dialogue, expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, deepen understanding and foster a more solid social basis for the further development of bilateral relations.

Jeong Chang-soo, President of South Korean Tourism Organization told the opening ceremony that the exchanges between China and South Korea are more frequent than with other countries. The total number of mutual visits surpassed 10 million in 2014 and 2015, and it is expected that the number of mutual visits will reach a new height this year.

He hoped that the photo show will provide a chance to deepen understanding between Chinese and South Koreans and furthermore to improve the quality of South Korea's tourism industry.

Both China and South Korea leaders decided to launch mutual tourism years during their summit in South Korea in 2014, with an aim to build the cultural ties between the two countries, promote mutual visits, and reinforce the foundation of goodwill among the general public of the two sides.

The 2015 Chinese Tourism Year in South Korea was launched on Jan 23, 2015, and South Korea held its Tourism year in China this year.

Both countries has vowed to support this initiative which will lend new momentum to the in-depth cultural exchanges between the two sides and push bilateral friendship and cooperation up to a new level.

Liu Qibao, head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese Ambassador to South Korea Qiu Guohong and Governor of Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Won Hee-Ryoung attended the exhibition.

The organizers said the exhibition would run over six days at International Peace Center and Spirited Garden in Jeju and hope more visitors would stop by.