A launch ceremony for the China-US Tourism Year is held in Beijing on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. [Photo: people.cn]

The China-US Tourism Year has officially kicked off in Beijing.

As part of the promotion, a thousand American tourists will be chosen for a mass climb of the Great Wall.

At the same time, a number of tourism events connected to the Maritime Silk Road are set to take place in the US.

It's estimated around 2 million Americans visited China last year.

Around 2.5 million Chinese traveled to the US in 2015.

The US is the 3rd largest source of foreign visitors to China.

Chinese tourists rank 4th as far as visitors to the US are concerned.

Those numbers are expected to rise with the two sides now offering 10-year tourist and business travel visas, as well as 5-year student visas.