A delegation of Utah lawmakers leave Saturday for China, a trip they promise will pay off in the long term even as the price of the journey climbs.

Taxpayers are picking up the now $36,000-plus tab for 13 legislators and two of their staff to spend eight days in the Liaoning province of China, a northeastern coal-producing region that borders North Korea.

Lawmakers originally budgeted $18,000 for the trip, but the actual cost of airfare is some $26,000 and hotel rooms, more than $10,000. Meals and transportation in the country are expected to be provided by the delegation's Chinese hosts.

All but one member of the delegation is bringing along a spouse at their own expense.

The trip is worth the amount taxpayers are spending, legislative leaders said.

"You have to take a long view on any relationship with a foreign country," said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo. Bramble, along with House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara, are heading the delegation.

"We're not looking for an instant, immediate return. We're not looking at the success of this trip as whether we return with a sales order," Bramble said. "This will be successful if we are successful in establishing contacts and building relationships."

The itinerary released for the trip that begins in the city of Shenyang includes meetings in a total of three cities with a number of provincial and local officials as well as visits to a steel corporation, business centers and schools.

Utahns should be able to listen on www.senatesite.com to reports on the trip that delegation members will begin recording after they arrive in China on Sunday.

It's not the first time state leaders have met with their Chinese counterparts.

In October 2006, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. led a trade mission to Beijing and Shanghai and, along with representatives of Utah businesses and institutions of higher education, met with national and local leaders.

China "is becoming an increasingly important market for Utah," Huntsman's spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, said when asked about the legislators' trip. "With the rise of Asia and especially, China, it behooves us as a state to shore up ties wherever appropriate."

Huntsman "did a wonderful job of opening up China to Utah," Clark said, citing the attention the governor attracted by speaking fluent Mandarin. "We're looking forward to building on that with this one particular state-to-state relationship."

Clark said critics who have questioned spending tax dollars on the trip need to wait and see what it produces. "I'm familiar with farming. You plant seeds in the spring. You harvest in the fall," he said. "Measure us a year from now whether we've been productive or not."