CAIRO, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Tourism Minister Rania al-Mashat said that the Chinese market is "promising" for Egypt's tourism, official news agency MENA reported on Thursday.

"Chinese market is one of the most promising markets for Egypt's tourism," the minister said on the sidelines of the 19th World Travel and Tourism Council Global Summit, which was hosted by the Spanish city of Seville.

She highlighted the growing number of the Chinese tourists to Egypt, the report added.

Al-Mashat met with officials from the Chinese online travel agency Ctrip during which the two sides discussed means of enhancing mutual cooperation as well as activating and increasing the number of Chinese tourists to Egypt, MENA reported.

"The Chinese market has special nature and unique social communication tools like Weibo and WeChat that could advertise the Egyptian tourism," the minister added.

The number of Chinese tourists increased from 160,000 in 2016 to more than 300,000 in 2017, making China the fourth largest tourist exporter to Egypt, according to official reports from Egypt and China.