ITB China News 2018 - Day 2 Edition

4 NEWS
PREFACE
Richard
Barnes
Belt and Road Moving
Forward
“Belt & Road” is often bandied
about these days, but just what is
the Belt & Road, and how do the
pieces fit together?
More than two millennia ago the
diligent and courageous people
of Eurasia explored and opened
up several routes of trade and
cultural exchanges that linked the
major civilisations of Asia, Europe
and Africa, collectively called the
Silk Road by later generations. For
thousands of years, the Silk Road
Spirit of “peace and cooperation,
openness and inclusiveness,
mutual learning and mutual
benefit”, has been passed from
generation to generation, promoted
the progress of human civilisation,
and contributed greatly to the
prosperity and development of
the countries along the Silk Road.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping
visited Central Asia and Southeast
Asia in September and October
of 2013, he raised the initiative
of jointly building the Silk Road
Economic Belt and the 21st-Century
Maritime Silk Road (now referred
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to as the Belt and Road), which
have attracted close attention from
all over the world. These will also
see enhanced cooperation in and
expansion of the scale of tourism,
the holding of tourism promotion
weeks and publicity months in each
other’s countries, joint creation of
competitive international tourist
routes and products with Silk
Road features, and heightened
convenience in applying for tourist
visa in countries along the Belt and
Road.
Many at this year’s ITB China will
be working to harmonise and move
the project forward. Indeed, even
conference sessions such as a
keynote speech and a case study on
the “Belt and Road Initiative – How
Does It Affect the Business Events
Industry in China?”, Moderated
by Philip Pang, Marketing and
Membership Manager, PCMA
ICESAP, will spotlight this extremely
important initiative. Yet another
factor making ITB China a “not to
be missed” event.
• Publisher: Gérard Lefebvre • Managing Director: Jean-François Pieri
• Publishing Director: Jean-Guy Bienfait • Project Manager: Wenchao Wang
• Chief Analyst: Richard Barnes • Editorial coordination: Yingying Deng
• Marketing Manager: Nathalie Meissner • Art Director: Hélène Beunat
• With the participation of: Bettina Badon, Naila Ben Ghorbal, Borhan Moussa, Finn-Georg Sander
>To contact them : first name.last name@itb-china-news.com
• Printing: Shanghai HongMo YingXiaoCeHua, Shanghai, China
• Cover: © Ctrip
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ITB China
2018 Kicks Off
in Style
ITB China’s second edition
officially kicked off in style
with an official ribboncutting
ceremony at 9:30 am
yesterday, followed by a tour
of the show floor.
Official attendees included Dr
Christian Göke, CEO, Messe
Berlin; Paavo Virkunnen, CEO,
Visit Finland; Leo Liu President
of Greater China, Wyndham
Hotel Group; Dr Martin Buck,
Senior Vice President, Messe
Berlin; Eduardo Santander,
Executive Director, ETC,
Steven Shu, CMO, Meituan;
David Axiotis, General Manager,
ITB China; Rungang Zhang, Vice
President & Secretary General,
China Tourism Association;
Bo Sun, Senior Vice President,
Ctrip; Charlie Li, CEO, Travel
Daily China; Elena Kountoura,
Minister of Tourism, Greece;
and Konstantinos Tsegas,
General Secretary of Greek
National Tourism Organisation.
ITB has firmly established itself
as an international brand.
With the start of ITB China
2018 the brand new ITB logos
were launched, combining
the individual profiles of three
trade shows under the umbrella
of an international hub.
Changing views of the globe
reference the individual
trade show locations and create
variations of a monolithic brand
family which, sporting uniform
trade show and product colours,
font styles and logo designs, will
in future be perceived globally
as a single brand.
With an expected attendee
number of 15,000, more than
700 exhibitors from 80 countries
and around 800 buyers,
China’s three-day B2B travel
trade show shows significant
growth after its premiere. The
18,000 sq m of exhibition space
was completely sold out well
before the show. The success
of ITB China is reflected in
the 50% increase of the gross
exhibition area compared
to last year. Meanwhile, a total
of 2,700 attendees are expected
to take part in the lectures,
discussions and keynotes of
the ITB China Conference,
supported by more than
120 industry speakers. The
recognized travel think tank,
running parallel to ITB China,
will invite business leaders and
experts both from China and
abroad to deliver their expertise
and ideas on market hotspots in
the industry
ITB CHINA NEWS • Thursday 17 th May 2018
www.itb-china-news.com