To entice travelers, BTA launched advertising campaigns during major international sports events, including the Barcelona Football Club in Spain, the NBA games in the United States, and the Chinese F1 Grand Prix in Shanghai, to promote the city as an appealing tourist destination.

Hosting the Summer Olympic Games last year helped establish Beijing's international reputation, an image of excellence the city looks to utilize as it promotes its tourism in Spain, Germany, Turkey, the United States, Japan and South Korea.

"Benefiting from these international promotions, Beijing has seen inbound tourism gaining steam since this May," said Zhang.

According to statistics from BTA, Beijing received 364,000 overseas tourists in May, an increase of 5.1 percent from the same period last year, and this June, the number of overseas overnight tourists totalled 325,000, an increase of 8.8 percent year on year.

After stepping up tourism promotion in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Beijing experienced a substantial increase in visitors from the three regions. In the first half of 2009, the number of Hong Kong and Macao visitors to Beijing rose 51.6 percent and 61.8 percent, respectively, year on year, while the number of travelers from Taiwan jumped 41.1 percent, according to Zhang.

BTA acknowledged that the Internet has been an important platform for issuing promotions. The 2 million free tickets to tourism locations in Beijing were distributed nationwide through the Internet. An interactive Web activity—"My Travelogue in Beijing in Picture, Video, Writing and Paintings"—launched by the Beijing Municipal Government has been accessed more than 400 million times.

"This event has won broad participation from all over the world," said Zhang.

Reaching the goal

Earlier this year, BTA set a goal of attracting 154 million tourists, while accumulating 236 billion yuan ($34.7 billion ) in revenue. The two goals are respectively 5.6 percent and 6.3 percent higher than those set last year.

Meeting the goal will require Beijing to further enhance its planning and investment in tourism-related projects, as well as vigorously developing new tourism resources, Zhang said.

Currently, there are more than 100 tourism projects under construction, with completion dates scheduled for later this year. The new attractions will include entertainment, leisure and fashion venues, in addition to theme parks, countryside tours, tourist blocks and numerous hospitalities.

"These projects feature broad coverage, rich types and adaptability to market demand," Zhang said at the press conference.

Beijing will soon be host to the China Wedding Celebration Festival to promote the city as a wedding destination. "Welcome to Beijing for the New Year" will build Beijing's winter tourism market, Zhang said.

MERRY-GO-ROUND: An amusement park is built on the vacant lot north of the Bird's Nest, which has now become a new spot for tourists (LUO XIAOGUANG)

The city has also utilized incentive programs for travel agencies in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan that organize visits of more than 5,000 tourists to Beijing, awarding them 100,000 yuan ($14,705.90). Those agencies that organized 10,000 tourists receive 200,000 yuan ($29,411.80), according to BTA.

Special transport subsidies will also be offered to the Beijing-Tianjin Tourism Cooperation, with 1 million yuan ($147,058.8) awarded to travel agencies in Tianjin who have arranged for large groups of Tianjin residents to visit Beijing.

To expand the scope of Beijing's tourism industry, about 50 members from the city's hotels and scenic spots will travel to Taiwan. A local website will also be launched to publish tourism information about Beijing.

An Internet campaign, Beijing's New 16 Top Spots Contest, is currently underway, encouraging netizens to vote for their favorite scenic spots. A new tour itinerary will be promoted to travelers based on the 16 spots selected.