Fiji, an island country in the South Pacific Ocean, wants to take a bite at the rapidly growing outbound tourism in China.

Fiji, which has slowly become a hot destination for Chinese travelers who want to escape the winter cold and spend time in a tropical island, is mapping out plans to further attract Chinese tourists into the country.

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Last year, Fiji welcomed more than 23,000 Chinese tourists, a 10 percent growth from a year earlier, said Fiji Broadcasting Corporation. Tourism officials in Fiji hope for more Chinese tourists to visit the country this year as Fiji rolls out several tourism package exclusively for Chinese travelers.

Fiji has all the reasons to focus on Chinese tourists considering that the number of outbound Chinese tourists reached more than 83 million in 2012, with the number is set to increase to 100 million by the end of this year.

USA, Russia and France continue to be the popular destinations for Chinese tourists, who spent more than US$100 billion abroad.

China and Fiji have an existing bilateral cooperation. Last year, Fijian Prime Minister Josaia Bainimarama met Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit in Beijing.

During the meeting, Xi said China is ready to further strengthen and expand its cooperation with Fiji and will continue to provide aid to the country.

Xi suggested the exploration of cooperation for the two countries in the fields of agriculture, fishery, telecommunications, mining, and tourism.

For his part, the Fijian prime minister said China has long provided support for Fiji, which in turn benefited its people. Bainimarama, who was the first leader from the Pacific Island nations to visit China since the presidency of Xi, hoped that China will continue to explore cooperation with Fiji.