Thai dancers perform in front of the exhibition stand of Thailand at the 2018 Travel Exhibition in Budapest, Hungary, on March 1, 2018. The 2018 Travel Exhibition, with 280 exhibitors from 23 countries, started here on Thursday. (Xinhua/Attila Volgyi)?

BUDAPEST, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The 2018 Travel Exhibition, with 280 exhibitors from 23 countries, started here on Thursday.

"The main theme of the exhibition is active recreation, but almost every branch of tourism is represented from March 1 to 4," Gabor Ganczer, the CEO of the organizer Hungexpo said at the opening of the event.

In the spotlight at the event was the city of Heviz in Hungary and the country of Morocco.

A total of 15 Chinese enterprises and organizations attended the exhibition. Cui Ke, director of China National Tourist Office in Budapest, told Xinhua that China National Tourism Administration attached great importance to tourism cooperation with Hungary.

"In 2016, the number of two-way tourist exchanges between China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) was 1.25 million. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang made a speech during the 6th Summit of China and CEECs last November in Budapest, clearly setting the goal to achieve two-way tourist exchanges to two million people in 2020," Cui said.

"Through the participation in the exhibition, we try to attract more tourists from CEECs to enjoy the beautiful China and promote the tourism exchange among 16 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and China," he added.