ITB China News 2019 - Day 3 Edition
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SPECIAL FEATURE: CULTURAL TOURISM<br />
11<br />
Culture Counts: CTS calls<br />
for expansion of offering<br />
While Chinese travellers are known to<br />
like food, art exploration, architecture,<br />
music, and of course shopping, <strong>China</strong>’s<br />
CTS Travel says it is time companies<br />
focusing on cultural travel expand their<br />
offerings for Chinese travellers.<br />
CTS is one of the largest state-owned<br />
travel agencies in <strong>China</strong>, with presence<br />
in all cities in the country as well as 15<br />
countries across the world.<br />
“Travel is dominated by culture”, says<br />
Chen Zhuo, General Manager of Europe<br />
Division & Cultural Travel Division at CTS<br />
Shanghai. “In the future, Chinese and<br />
even global travellers will prefer more<br />
informative trips.”<br />
Schedules and itineraries, says Mr Chen,<br />
need to be increasingly customised<br />
depending on the specific interests of the<br />
Chinese visitors. The use of technology<br />
can also add real value.<br />
Mr Chen says artificial intelligence<br />
technology is helping people interact with<br />
others in a simple manner, as, thanks<br />
to live translation devices, Chinese<br />
travellers can ask a question in Chinese,<br />
and have it directly translated to English…<br />
and vice versa. This trend of facilitating<br />
Chen Zhuo<br />
General Manager of Europe Division &<br />
Cultural Travel Division, CTS Shanghai<br />
instructions in Chinese and the presence<br />
of Chinese-speaking guides, along with<br />
apt use of online tools is making a trip<br />
more enjoyable.<br />
“Translation gadgets, videos and virtual<br />
reality will all work well,” said Mr Chen,<br />
who added that CTS’s strength lies in<br />
offering a combination of cultural content<br />
and outstanding guides<br />
Li MengRan<br />
Communication manager, Utour<br />
SHOPPING?<br />
NO THANKS. WE<br />
WANT CULTURE…<br />
According to Chinese tour operator utour, the<br />
image of the Chinese tourist as only seeking<br />
shopping destinations and iconic landmarks is<br />
quickly disappearing.<br />
As an established outbound travel operator in<br />
<strong>China</strong>, utour has focused on a wide range of<br />
cultural travel products, in which art exploration,<br />
architecture, human history and music are the<br />
main interests.<br />
Utour’s communication manager Li MengRan<br />
says shopping might well be a primary reason<br />
for travelling to Hong Kong or Macau, but not for<br />
destinations in Europe or North America.<br />
Israel: official Culture Travel<br />
Partner of <strong>ITB</strong> <strong>China</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
and become culture travel partner at <strong>ITB</strong><br />
<strong>China</strong> <strong>2019</strong>,” said Bora Shnitman, Israel<br />
Tourism Attaché in <strong>China</strong>, adding, “Israel<br />
is well known in <strong>China</strong> as an attractive<br />
destination for those travellers who are<br />
looking for unique and unforgettable<br />
cultural experience”.<br />
Li points to a recent McKinsey report, which<br />
indicates that Chinese now show a penchant<br />
for “experiences”, and have increasingly diverse<br />
travel needs. Exploring local events, cuisine, art<br />
and so on, are now high on the agenda. And the<br />
global fraternity serving travellers from <strong>China</strong> is<br />
evolving accordingly.<br />
“With the explosive growth of outbound tourists<br />
from <strong>China</strong>, more countries are upgrading their<br />
services to Chinese travellers by providing<br />
Chinese instructions and Chinese-speaking<br />
guides,” says Li.<br />
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism is the<br />
official culture travel partner of the third<br />
edition of <strong>ITB</strong> <strong>China</strong>.<br />
“This is the second consecutive year that<br />
Israel Ministry of Tourism is taking part in<br />
<strong>ITB</strong> <strong>China</strong> and we are proud to enhance<br />
our collaboration with the organisers<br />
“This year our annual theme is ‘Promised<br />
land, made with wisdom’. We would like to<br />
introduce to Chinese travellers the great<br />
diversity that Israel has to offer to its<br />
visitors, from ancient history and culture<br />
to advanced innovative technologies<br />
and ideas,” adds Schnitman. “In addition,<br />
during <strong>ITB</strong> <strong>China</strong>, we will be presenting<br />
new cultural travel products to visitors and<br />
looking forward to fruitful cooperation<br />
with our new and old Chinese partners”<br />
STAND B001<br />
According to utour statistics, the main audience<br />
of cultural travel products is mainly middle-aged<br />
and old-age tourists. In addition, white-collars<br />
and office workers in Tier 1 cities are also the<br />
mainstay consumers. “They often expect to<br />
meet their needs of seeking knowledge through<br />
travel and thus enrich their inner spiritual world.<br />
Moreover, they are willing to explore local customs<br />
and traditions through unique environment and<br />
scenes of the destinations. Tourists with rich<br />
experience in outbound travel prefer cultural<br />
travel. For these travellers, travel not only is a trip,<br />
but also meets the mental pursuit in the heart.”<br />
said Li<br />
<strong>ITB</strong> CHINA NEWS • Friday 17 th May <strong>2019</strong>