The inaugural exhibition held last year was a great success in reaching out to Western China’s travel and tourism industries. Featuring over 118 exhibitors from 28 countries and regions, CITF 2012 attracted over 32,000 trade and public visitors.
Chengdu is as an important hub for business, finance, transportation, communications and technology in China. Ranked first in total economic output amongst China’s western provinces, Chengdu is also projected by renowned US magazine Forbes to be the first in the fastest growing cities in the next ten years.
Latest developments in the tourism sector saw Chengdu implementing 72-hour visa-free stays for international transit passengers for over 40 countries. Chengdu is the fourth city and the first in Western China, to introduce the visa-free policy following Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, The free-visa policy is a major sign of the city’s openness to international visitors and would encourage more overseas tourists and business people to visit Chengdu, thus prompting more airlines to offer more air services and other related businesses more avenues to prosper. As one of the “leading cities” in China, the implementation of the policy will allow Chengdu and its surrounding cities to fully utilize resources that will accelerate international cooperation and business partnerships.
With the implementation of the policy, Chengdu’s inbound visitor numbers are expected to increase greatly. Outbound tourism from the region is also foreseen to increase as the latest World Tourism Barometer report by United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) showed that China’s outbound travel expenditure reached US$102 billion in 2012, while volume of international trips by the population grew from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012. The report also showed that tourism revenues generated by Chinese travelers surged 40% last year from US$73 billion in 2011 to US$102 billion in 2012.
With such observations by UNWTO, China’s immense population of over 1.35 billion continues to be a very lucrative tourism market for both the local and international tourism industries.
Such observations are optimistic for Chengdu as well as Western China’s tourism sector. Estimated to attract over 200 exhibitors from 40 countries and regions, as well as 43,000 trade and public visitors, CITF 2013 aims to play bigger strategic role in providing the ideal platform for local and international stakeholders to enhance their business exchanges and co-operation; as well a one-stop venue serving the tourism and travel needs of the general public.
The 2013 edition has, till date, confirmed participation from the following countries/regions: Australia, Dubai, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, the UK and the USA.
The CITF series is organized by Conference & Exhibition Management Services Pte Ltd (Singapore), co-organized by CEMS (Beijing) Conference & Exhibition Co., Ltd and supported by Chengdu Municipal Tourism Administration, Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Exposition and the Chengdu Culture & Tourism Development Group L.L.C.
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