China, where travelers line up for more...

China, where travelers line up for more than 10 hours to buy a railroad ticket and airline flights are canceled without warning, has announced it was setting up a high-powered cabinet committee on tourism.

The official People’s Daily said the committee will be headed by former Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian, who is a member of the State Council. “We must speed up the reform of the tourism system. We must change the way of thinking and working, overcome bureaucratism and raise efficiency,” the newspaper quoted Wu as saying.

Official figures show China earned $1.84 billion last year from tourism, an increase of 20% over 1986. China sees tourism as an important way of earning much-needed foreign exchange, but admits the industry is plagued by red tape and poor service.