UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Over 150 mainly tourism leaders and entrepreneurs got a treat at UN headquarters with "a close-up view" of the metropolitan and natural beauty of Chongqing, known as China's "mountainous city", without leaving New York.

At a tourism promotion Thursday night, the southwestern Chinese city gave the participants a taste of exquisiteness through a photo exhibit and presentation from its municipal officials, under the theme of "A Tour in Chongqing, A Gain in Vision."

Zhang Ming, publicity chief of the Communist Party of China Chongqing Municipal Committee, noted in his remarks that the event was a perfect opportunity for Chongqing to exchange tourism development experiences with one of the world's best cities -- New York City -- and to learn from the latter's best practices.

He said that in the first half of 2018, Chongqing, as a fast growing tourism destination, received about 261 million visitors, with 1.47 million from outside of the Chinese mainland.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio sent a congratulatory letter to the event, expressing gratitude to its organizers for their efforts to showcase the beauty of Chongqing to local tourism workers, as tourism is one of the most vital to his city.

The Chongqing delegation also launched the official digital publicity platform iChongqing, and invited participants to attend "Visit Yangtze Again," a themed travel event set for November.

A signing ceremony of partnership among the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Chongqing Daily News Group and Sino-American Friendship Association, as well as partnership between Chongqing Broadcasting Group and Cimagine Media Group LLC was also held at the event.

The signatories vowed to cooperate to build Chongqing into a portal for Americans to know more about the vast west region of China.