China and the European Union signed a tourism agreement on October 30, 2003.

The agreement covers 12 countries including Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Greece, Italy, Sweden and Finland. It was signed by Italian Prime Minister and EU President Silvio Berlusconi, European Commission President Romano Prodi and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, following the EU-China Summit held in Beijing on the same day.

Although the agreement still needs to be ratified by EU member states and details have yet to be negotiated, it shows that the EU is opening its tourism market to China.

Outbound tourism in China has increased at an annual rate of 20-30 percent over the last four to five years.

The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will become the world's fourth largest outbound tourist source by 2020.

The "authorized destination status" (ADS) agreement between China and the 12 EU nations will simplify visa procedures for Chinese tour groups to these countries. There are now 28 countries and regions that have ADS agreements with China, not including the 12 EU countries.

Chinese lead the majority of outbound tourists from across the world in per-capita consumption. According to statistics in 2002, Chinese tourists bought 7.8 percent of all duty-free goods purchased in EU nations. They ranked No.3, just behind Russia and the United States, exceeding Japan in this category for the first time.