Officials in Beijing hope the United States will welcome Chinese tourists by lifting a ban on Chinese travel agency groups.

"Asking the United States to open its tourist market will be a topic for the China-U.S. Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade this year," Zhang Xiqin, deputy director of the China National Tourism Administration said.

The Chinese love to travel overseas: 34.5 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad last year, the China Daily reported.

The United Nations has estimated that China will become the most popular tourist destination in the world and the fourth-busiest outbound tourist market by 2015.