The Chinese government awarded Syria approved destination status for Chinese tour groups on Tuesday.

Gu Chaoxi, deputy director of the China National Tourism Administration and Mohamed Kheir Al-Wadi, Syrian ambassador to China, signed two documents on Tuesday, including a bilateral tourism memorandum of understanding (MOU) and a cooperation plan.

Mohamed Kheir Al-Wadi said China and Syria had a long history of friendship and exchanges going back to the Silk Road period.

"We will work together to promote bilateral tourism exchanges," he said.

Syria's tourism income reached 2.3 billion US dollars last year and it expects to welcome 12 million foreign travelers by 2015.

Editor: Donald