Chinese tourists will be able to visit the United States on group tours under an agreement reached in Beijing yesterday.
The agreement is one of 14 reached at a meeting of the Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.
It gives the US approved destination status and means Chinese travel agencies will be allowed from next year to organize tour groups to the US.
Nearly 600,000 Chinese tourists a year could be visiting the US by 2011.
Until now, Chinese have been able to visit the US only for business or study.
"Today's agreement will open a large and growing market for the US travel and tourism industry," said US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
The number of US visitors to China reached 1.71 million last year.
China has given approved destination status to 132 nations and regions and 34 million Chinese traveled abroad last year.
Other agreements signed yesterday cover increased manufacturing safeguards over Chinese products and moves to boost US exports and head off critics of China's trade surplus.
China announced yesterday that its global trade surplus was US$26.28 billion last month, showing strong foreign demand for low-cost Chinese goods.
Officials from both sides at yesterday's talks warned of the danger of protectionism, with Gutierrez saying the answer is to boost US exports rather than limit imports from China.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi said China has been the fastest-growing export market for the US for five straight years.
Wu said she hopes agencies from both sides will fully implement the broad consensus reached at the meeting, expand cooperation, iron out disparities and work more closely.
Wu criticized the rise in US Congressional actions against China, the politicization of economic and trade issues, tighter controls on certain types of exports to China and what she termed the deliberate exaggeration of China's food and product safety practices.