4 NEWS © Messe Berlin
4 NEWS © Messe Berlin © Messe Berlin Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of European Travel Commission ITB China Conference cooperation with Chinese authorities and an increased commitment of the European tourism sector supporting targeted joint public-private marketing initiatives, Europe will succeed in fostering more travellers from China. The strong cooperation with ITB China will help us reaching these goals.” STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Finland was the partner destination of this year’s show. Director, Head of Global Sales Promotion, Visit Finland said, “We expect this co-operation with ITB China to further strengthen our position in China. This year Finland was represented at ITB China by 28 companies around Finland with a delegation of 45 Finnish travel industry professionals. Our goal at ITB China is to promote Finland as year-round destination and to introduce for example Finnish Lakeland Region to Chinese travellers. Travel from China to Finland has been growing too rapidly. We expect this growth to continue also during the coming years.” Further key partnerships included China Tourism Association, the largest industry association for China’s travel and tourism industry with 4,000 members, the China Tourism Academy, a research institution directly under the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) with a focus on studies in the tourism industry, and Wyndham Hotel Group as the official hotel partner. ITB CHINA CONFERENCE: THE INDUSTRY THINK TANK The ITB China Conference was confirmed as China’s travel think tank, having hosted around 70 sessions featuring 120 high-level speakers. With a total of around 4,000 attendees, up from 2,700 last year, the keynotes, lectures and workshops proved to be major visitor attractions again. The Conference featured sessions on Customised Travel, which has become an important and fastgrowing segment for Chinese travellers, with dedicated sessions devoted to sports tourism, Revenue Management for hotels or animal friendly tourism. The new Business Travel Day and the Education & Job Day were also very well followed by attendees. On 17 May 2018, the ITB China Conference offered everyone working in the business travel market an ideal platform for training and networking at the Business Travel Day. Practical workshops with up-to-date information on methods and strategies provided both career newcomers and corporate travel managers with first-hand knowledge and updates. This year’s exclusive partners were CITS American Express Global Business Travel, Carlson Wagonlit Travel China and BCD Travel. For the first time ITB China dedicated the last day of the ITB China Conference, 18 May 2018, as ‘Education & Job Day’ in partnership with Fudan University & Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI). Tourism management students and jobseekers attended the morning sessions of the Education Day, checked the job wall and were able to make immediate contact with personnel managers in the fully booked Job Area with more than 40 companies, institutions and universities, such as Ctrip, JinJiang, Sabre, Carlson Wagonlit Travel China or Wyndham Hotel Group, exhibiting. STARTUP AWARDS – TIMEKETTLE AND TRAVELFLAN TAKE HONOURS The ITB China Startup Awards took place for the second time this year. The awards acknowledge outstanding new products and services that were introduced less than two years ago and which anticipate major market potential. For the first time, there were two equal winners: Timekettle, a Shenzhen based company, convinced the jury with their WT2 translator, a smart and wearable real-time translating earphone. The Hong Kong-based travel platform TravelFlan won over the jury by providing travellers with a personalized and hasslefree travel experience with the use of AI Technology. IT’S MY WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS For the first time Qyer and ITB China co-organised the IT’S MY WORLD TRAVEL AWARDS, honouring Chinese key opinion leaders (KOL) as well as global destinations across all sectors of Chinese outbound travel. Among the winners, were the famous Chinese actress Huang Lu, who won in the category “Travelers of the year” or Chinese actor Xia Yu winning in the category “Pioneers of Travel & Tourism”. The award honours companies for their innovations in order to help all those involved in the industry meeting the needs of the Chinese travellers. The ceremony was followed by an exclusive Gala Dinner. Exhibitors to ITB China were able to talk and meet with China’s most influential KOL’s, in order to promote their destination. MARKET INTRODUCTION PROGRAMME The ITB China Market Introduction Programme made its debut this year. The newly launched programme was designed for international travel industry professionals who had no or little experience with the Chinese travel market. Companies or institutions who aimed to gather first experiences with the Chinese travel industry, could easily establish first contacts and got useful information about this dynamic industry and market. Inaugural partner, VIR (Verband Internet Reisevertrieb, Germany’s leading association for the online travel industry) sent a delegation to China for the first time. MEDIA ATTENDANCE UP OVER 70% The number of registered Chinese and international journalists reporting from ITB China this year was 260, up from 150 in 2017. The event offered numerous opportunities for networking and making new valuable industry contacts during numerous events, such the Opening Dinner on the eve of the show, the ITB China Cruise Night 2.0 sponsored by Ctrip, the Party Like a Finn evening, hosted by the partner destination, Finland, the ITB China European Night, powered by the EU-China Tourism Year as well as numerous late functions. DATE SET FOR 2019 The date for ITB China 2019 is already set: Wednesday to Friday, 15 to 17 May 2019 at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre ITB CHINA NEWS • Monday 28 th May 2018 www.itb-china-news.com
NEWS 5 Up Close and Social Selected tweets from this year’s ITB China A quick tour of social media allows one to get an idea of the honest feedback of many who participated in this year’s ITB China. Following are some of the top tweets. @ITB China Following @ETC Corporate Following The last day of ITB China is over - thanks to a great team the 2nd edition was a full success - we hope all attendees had fantastic days - See you all for next year’s ITB China from 15 - 17 May 2019 #ITBChina2018 @traveldailycn Family picture of the official Partners of #ECTY2018. Eduardo Santander: “Unity is strength. Europe competitiveness in China based on cooperation with Chinese authorities & commitment of the European tourism sector to support joint public-private marketing initiatives” @ITB_China May 18 May 17 Reply to @itb-china-news Reply to @itb-china-news @Wonderful Italy Following @z_outlet Following #ITBChina - 16/18 may 2018. We are present at the most important #travel exhibition exclusively focused on the #Chinese Travel Market that is taking place in these days in #Shanghai |Meet us at booth 210| #WonderfulItaly #ITB What a week in @ITB China travel trade show in Shanghai, meeting dozens of local travel agencies and tour operators. Exciting to see their huge interest in adding @z_outlet in their itineraries. May 17 May 21 Reply to @itb-china-news Reply to @itb-china-news @JacTravelLtd Following @EnTurBA Following Andrew Guthrie had a very productive time at #ITBChina18 with #WebBeds last week; thank you, @ITB_China for a great expo! #tourism #travel ¡Acciones de promoción en #China! En #Shanghai, mantuvimos reuniones y presentamos la oferta de #BuenosAires a profesionales de la industria turística en @ITB_China May 21 May 16 Reply to @itb-china-news Reply to @itb-china-news Travel Daily reports China has leapfrogged Germany to become fourth largest market for Hotelbeds Travel Daily’s Simon Willmore spoke to regional sourcing director APAC ITB China. China has moved above Germany to become the fourth largest source market in the wholesale channel for Hotelbeds Group, it was announced today. China remains the number one source market in the wholesale channel for Hotelbeds Group in Asia- Pacific and is now the fourth biggest for the Group globally, up from fifth place last year. The Group sells in the wholesale channel to online travel agents, tour operators and airlines via its Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays, and GTA bedbank brands. Link: http://www.traveldailymedia.com/china-fourth-largest-market-for-hotelbeds/ ITB CHINA NEWS • Monday 28 th May 2018
