HANGZHOU, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Beijing's Palace Museum has signed a framework agreement to join the World Tourism Alliance (WTA) in building the World Tourism Museum in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

According to the agreement, the Palace Museum will carry out in-depth cooperation with the WTA in developing products and holding exhibitions in the tourism museum that is scheduled to open by December 2020 in the scenic city.

Headquartered in Hangzhou, the WTA is a China-initiated non-governmental and non-profit organization formed by 89 founding members in 2017.

The WTA's World Tourism Museum Project started construction in March 2019. The museum is composed of a permanent underground interactive exhibition area, a tourism culture and art exhibition hall, an outdoor exhibition courtyard, a WTA international art garden, an international tourism sculpture park and a cruise ship hall.

Wang Xudong, curator of the Palace Museum, said the two sides will work closely to make the world tourism museum an international first-class museum by giving full play to their respective advantages.

The Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, is one of the world's most visited museums. The museum received 17.5 million visitors in 2018 with about 20 percent from outside China.