LUSAKA, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Zambia will step up sensitization of the China-Zambia bilateral agreement on designating 2024 as the Year of Culture and Tourism to enable the locals to take part in promoting tourism industry with their Chinese counterpart, a senior government official said Thursday.

Evans Muhanga, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, said the government through the ministry will line up cultural activities in tourism provinces across the country.

"We are looking at the participation of Zambians to strengthen the cultural exchange program with our counterpart in China," he said, adding that the preparations are in anticipation of Zambia attracting a lot of visitors from the Asian state.

Muhanga told Xinhua in an interview in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, that the Year of Culture and Tourism has come at a time when the southern African country is strengthening its cooperation with China for mutual benefit.

Further, he said Chinese tourists moved in groups hence the need for the hospitality industry to ready itself to accommodate large numbers of visitors from the Asian country.

In promotion of Zambia's tourism industry in China, Muhanga said Zambia has always marketed its tourism sites in China.

Meanwhile, Joseph Phiri, who is Ndola district commissioner, said in a separate interview that the government's focus on developing the tourism industry will have a positive impact on Zambians.

Phiri, a senior government official in the provincial business hub of Ndola in the Copperbelt province in northern Zambia, is optimistic that the agreement between China and Zambia will bear the much-needed fruits in the near future.

"The sector is poised to create jobs for the local people if it's marketed to the large international markets like China, " he said.

China and Zambia earlier this month reached an agreement that 2024 will be a bilateral Year of Culture and Tourism activities.