The 2012 China International Travel Mart held its grand opening on the 15th in the Shanghai New International Expo Center. November 15th and 16th were dedicated to professional trade talks, while the 17th and 18th's events were open to the public.
The fair was extremely large, taking up a total of 57500 square meters, with 2514 booths and 104 countries represented, showing growth from the last Shanghai CITM held in 2010. The international booth count significantly increased, with 932 booths, but still remained outnumbered by the 1532 Chinese booths. Overseas buyer participation was extremely enthusiastic, with approximately 1200 names invited from over 40 countries and regions, including South Korea, Russia, the United States, and Europe.
Travel World China, together with a few of its worldwide clients, hosted a pavilion at the CITM this year. Here blow are what they saw and heard.
Diversity of participating industries continues increasing, boosting cooperation possibilities
Participants included representatives from government tourism organizations, travel agencies, hotels, tourist attraction boards, airlines, cruise companies, and travel sites. The Shanghai host set up the fair's biggest pavilion, composed of 80 booths and 720 square meters, dwarfing the other provinces' booths. More than 50 guests and 20 overseas VIP groups from Russia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Laos, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Cameroon, Mexico, Bahamas, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, the South Pacific Tourism Organization, and various other international organizations from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan attended relevant activities.
Focus on brand promotion, marketing cooperation
To enrich the fair's topics and promote international tourism exchange and cooperation, the organizing committee meticulously set up international tourism brand seminars as well as central and eastern Europe promotion sessions, while the Shanghai branch of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association set up the Travel Mart's grand opening and other major events. In addition, this year is China's Russian Tourism Year, meaning the travel fair set aside specific sessions for improving Sino-Russian tourism relations and promoting tourism in Russia.
To further expand the impact of CITM and improve the trading and communication platforms between the tourism industries at home and abroad, this year's CITM organizing committee continued emphasizing the importance of marketing cooperation and encouraged use of November 17th and 18th as days to really get promotions and discount sales out to the public.
Booth with local flavor allows foreign exhibitors to shine
Regional booths were another highlight, using spaces as small as 10 square meters to present unique tourism resources like in-depth tours and to offer tourists more possibilities to experience personalized itineraries.
Among some of the regional promotions were Ireland's "Visa Waiver Program", which will waive visa requirements for tourists from January 2013 to October 2016, and Singapore's tourist experience update, which will offer old visitors a chance to see new attractions such as the Bay South Garden (opened in June) and the Marine Life Park, the world's largest aquarium (will open on December 7). Indonesia launched a more nature-oriented promotion, seeking to attract 800,000 international tourists based on promises of experiencing exciting Indonesian culture through everything from golf to scuba diving, cruises to spas, shopping to cooking. The United States opted to host a large pavilion showcasing popular destinations like Hawaii, California, New York alongside popular American wines and snacks and even a live band.
There were also more personalized tour options promoted by countries like Russia, Mozambique, and Korea, which offered hunting, hut resort respectively.
"According to LishiHong, the CEO of Tourism Promotion and International Cooperation Department of China's National Tourism Administration, China has the world's third-largest inbound tourism market and outbound tourism consumption, making it the biggest tourism market in the world," said Li Shihong in a CITM press conference. Currently, the deep-seated impact of the international financial crisis is still keeping global market demand low. The tourism industry is the world's largest industry though and is highly tenacious, making it extremely competitive because it remains an industry many around which many major countries plan strategical moves.
The annual China International Tourism Market (CITM) is not only the largest fair in the Asia-Pacific region but also the most comprehensive one, and has become an important stage for both domestic and international tourism companies to conduct exchanges and create cooperation. The 2013 CITM will be held in Kunming, Yunnan Province, from October 24 to 27, 2013.
