The UK is set to benefit from a surge in tourists from China following Britain’s being granted Approved Destination Status (ADS) by the Chinese National Tourism Association.

The agreement, signed on 21 January by foreign secretary Jack Straw and Chinese minister for tourism He Guangwei, simplifies the process for Chinese tourists wanting to visit the UK and allows Britain to actively promote travel to this country.

A delegation of UK industry figures lead by tourism minister Richard Caborn will now visit China to investigate the potential for marketing Britain to the Chinese.

The World Tourism Organisation estimates that the number of tourists leaving China has grown by a million a year since 1998 and is likely to hit 100 million by 2020.

Stephen Dowd, chief executive of UKinbound, welcomed the agreement and said he will continue to press for its early implementation. “This agreement will provide a new range of opportunities for the UK’s inbound tourism industry and should prove a major boost to our tourism export earnings for many years to come.”

VisitBritain’s chief executive, Tom Wright, added: “With an increasingly prosperous population of 1.3bn people, China will undoubtedly be a huge growth market for UK tourism.”

The organisation already has a pan Asia contact centre in Hong Kong and offices in Shanghai and Beijing to support its marketing efforts.

Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said: “This creates a phenomenal opportunity for our tourism industry – one I am certain it will seize as it strives to become a £100 billion industry. There is a growing market for outbound travel from China, which will become increasingly important in the future.”

Britain follows several other European countries in gaining ADS status with China.