The 2018 EU-China Tourism Year
will be inaugurated on Friday in Venice with the participation
of Italian Culture and Tourism Minister Dario Franceschini,
European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and Nikolina
Angelkkova, tourism minister of Bulgaria, which holds the
rotating EU presidency.
The Chinese tourism market represents a key opportunity for
Europe with eight million Chinese tourists registered in 2016,
20 million reservations - up 12% on 2014 - and an expenditure of
around eight billion euros.
Overall, 122 million Chinese travelled worldwide although
less than 10% of the population has a passport.
Many institutional leaders and operators will be meeting in
Venice to discuss strategies to attract Chinese tourists to
Italy and Europe.
Participants will include Dai Bin, president of the China
Tourism Academy, Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European Commissioner
for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Du
Jiang, vice president of the China National Tourism
Administration.
Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the Union for
Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be attending, as well
as Veneto Governor Luca Zaia and Pansy Ho, the founder and
president of theGlobal Tourism Economy Research Centre.
China is the largest tourism market in terms of expenditure
and number of trips abroad.
However, the market could further grow by cutting red tape,
increasing the number of Chinese interpreters, improving
connections and by offering more palatable packages and
services, including free wi-fi everywhere, operators say.
Welcome Chinese is the partner for the organization of all
events promoting the EU-China tourism year.
Welcome Chinese is the only official certification recognized
by the Chinese government dedicated to the hospitality of
Chinese tourists, issued by the China Tourism Academy in
collaboration with national broadcaster China Central Television
(CCTV) and China Union Pay, the only credit card circuit issued
in China.
The second promotional event after Venice will take place in
Berlin on March 6, to coincide with Europe's leading travel
trade show ITB and the third will be held in Beijing on April
16.
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