n November 17,1997, He Guangwei, director of the National Tourism Administration(NTA), signed an agreement in Washington with Jonathan Linen, vice-chairman of the American Express( 美国运通公司 ), designating the American Express Card as China's tourist credit ca rd for 1998 to 2000. This is the second time the card has won this honor. "Since the American Express Card was designated for the first time in 1994, it has played an important role in China's tourism," said Director He at the signing o ver recent years, the number of tourists using the American Express Card to handle business, tourism and activities related to work in China has increased. According to Bank of China statistics, the amount of business using American Express Cards occupies 45 percent of the accounts signed with foreign credit cards. In addition, the number of accounts signed with the card by overseas tourists stands at 15 percent of China's tourist income in foreign exchange. In order to develop China's tourism, the American Express and the NTA carried out a series of market promotion activities in North American including distributing a million copies of the 24-page World of Wonders -- Hong Kong and China in North America. The American Express has enthusiastically supported China's tourism education and training. In 1992, in cooperation with the Beijing Tourism College, it established the tourism training center which has successfully trained more than 600 tourism administrative personnel. The new agreement marked the further strengthening of cooperation between the American Express and the NTA. It is also one of the important plans by both parties to boost the long-term development of China's tourism. "The American company has a wide tourism network in China and we are very honored to be able to make contributions to China's tourism," said Linen. At present, the company has four offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen and 30 tourist service centers in 22 cities offering tour and credit card services, including reissuing lost cards, reporting missing travel checks, consultation, settling of card accounts, handling customers' post and other services.