There was one other agreement signed during Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s visit to Latin America last week not related to energy or commodities. China named Colombia an official tourism destination, the 9th country in Latin America secure such status. Other countries officially sanctioned by Beijing include: Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Chile and Costa Rica.

There are lots of impressive projections about China’s number of overseas tourists. From the Latin American Herald Tribune article linked above:

China is the fourth largest tourist-sending country in the world, surpassing Germany, Britain and the United States, and projections are that some 47 million Chinese will travel abroad as tourists in 2009 and 65 million in 2012.

Less impressive, however, is that the only direct flight between China and Latin America I’ve heard about was launched last year: Shanghai-Mexico City. And without direct connections, Chinese travelers to Latin America end up flying far out of their way to avoid layovers in the US and European countries that require transit visas. A friend of mine told me he spent 30 hours flying from Beijing to Lima, with a ten-hour layover in Amsterdam.

Asking Chinese tourists to spend 60 hours in airports and planes for perhaps a week-long vacation is a tall order. And for those who do endure the transit time, jet lag and foreignness of Colombia, I can already imagine their tour bus pulling up to the beach in Cartegena:

“It’s okay, but not as nice as Hainan.”

Image: francescamichael.dk

*A pinyinization of 哥伦比亚欢迎你! or “Welcome to Colombia!”