With the exhibition of " Cities of Charm" drawing thousands of visitors at the third China-ASEAN expo in Nanning, tourism is climbing to the top of the China- ASEAN cooperation agenda, a Chinese expert said.

"Tourism plays an ever-important role in the economic development of China and the ASEAN countries, and will act as a roll booster in the establishment of the free trade area," said Gu Xiaosong, vice president of the Academy of Social Sciences in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

According to Gu, the number of cross-border tourists between China and ASEAN countries reached 6.5 million last year. Over 3 million, or one-third of the Chinese outbound tourists made ASEAN countries their first choices to visit, while China received the same number of foreign tourists from ASEAN countries.

In 2005, Thailand, a tourism mecca in southeast Asia, received over 840,000 Chinese visitors, 12 percent up from the previous year, and about 350,000 people from mainland China visited Malaysia.

Other ASEAN countries are also gearing up their efforts to attract Chinese tourists. According to Vietnam's tourism authorities, the country expects to attract as many as 6 million foreign visitors by 2010.

Historical links and geographic proximity have played an important part in boosting the development of tourism between China and ASEAN nations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, Gu said.

Under the ASEAN Tourism Agreement signed by all the 10 ASEAN countries in 2002, the member states would exempt their nationals from visas while they travel across the region, and would facilitate visa applications for foreign tourists from outside of the region.

According to a joint statement issued after the commemorative summit marking the 15th anniversary of the China-ASEAN dialogue partnership on Monday, Chinese and ASEAN leaders agreed to push forward bilateral cooperation in 10 priority areas including tourism.

"Tourism industry is bound to play a bigger role in the Chinese and ASEAN economies," Gu added.