SHANGHAI, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The China International Travel Mart (CITM), Asia's largest travel fair, opened Friday in Shanghai, featuring a record number of foreign exhibitors as the country's outbound tourism continues to boom.

This year's event sees participants from 107 countries and regions. Nearly a third of the booths are occupied by foreign exhibitors, according to the organizer.

Following China's first import expo held in Shanghai on Nov. 5-10, where pledges were made to keep opening up the country's service sector, analysts say the 2018 CITM is expected to enhance cultural and tourism cooperation with foreign countries.

"Every year we are seeing new countries and content, as well as meeting new friends at the fair," said Alberto D'Albora, an Italian exhibitor at the CITM.

The fair has an exhibition area of 57,500 square meters housing a total of 2,245 booths.

In the first half of 2018, the number of outbound Chinese tourists reached 71.31 million, up 15 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

In 2017, tourism has contributed around 9.13 trillion yuan (around 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars) to China's GDP, accounting for about 11 percent, according to the China Tourism Academy.