30 May 2018, Chengdu – Some 100 European tour operators, selected by the European Commission, would be taking part in the upcoming 6th Chengdu International Tourism Expo (CITE) 2018 for the first time. CITE 2018, which takes place in Chengdu from 29 November to 1 December, is also an official partner event of the current EU-China Tourism Year (ECTY).
Organised by the Conference & Exhibition Management Services (CEMS), the 6th edition of the CITE series is supported by the Tourism Development Commission of Sichuan Province; the Chengdu Municipal Tourism Administration; the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Exposition and the Sichuan Tourism Association.
The press conference being held at the Sheraton Chengdu Lido Hotel today, was graced by some X number of local government officials and special invited guests, including Mr Chai Yan Zhu, the Executive Vice-President and Secretary-General of Sichuan Tourism Association; Mr Yin Hai Sheng, Assistant Secretary-General of Sichuan Tourism Association; Ms Wu Ning, Deputy Director, Promotions, Chengdu Municipal Tourism Administration; Mr Liu Jun, Deputy Director of Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Exposition; and Mr Kenneth Teo, Regional Director (est China) of International Enterprise (IE) Singapore.
Said Mr Chai: “The Sichuan Tourism Association is glad to partner CITE again to bring the international and local tourism players together, and to provide the professional platform for businesses who are looking to expand into the Chinese market.”
Mr Edward Liu, Group Managing Director of CEMS, added: “In 2017, Chengdu surpassed Guangzhou and Shenzhen to become the third outbound tourism market in China. With 2018 being the EU-China Tourism Year, we are honoured that the European Commission and the European Tourism Association have chosen CITE 2018 as an official partner event. I am confident that this collaboration will draw a good representation of the European Union destinations into the show.”
The European Commission will bring 100 European Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) from the tourism and leisure sector. The focus of the events in Chengdu will be the draw of Romantic Tourism in Europe for the Chinese market. Head of the consortium delivering the programme, ETOA’s CEO Tom Jenkins said: “Chinese romantic travel is a very important niche in which Europe must compete.”
Attendees of this afternoon’s press conference were presented with event highlights that exhibitors, hosted buyers and trade visitors can look forward to in the exhibition. Apart from a significant presence of European and Canadian exhibitors in view of the EU-China and Canada-China Tourism Year, there will also be an offering of diverse products from the Asian exhibitors.
An important aspect of a tourism travel and trade exhibition is the hosted buyers programme. Sourced by a team of dedicated staff, some 400 pre-qualified top buyers from Chengdu, the Western region, the Chongqing municipality as well as other cities will be accepted to attend CITE 2018.
Newly added to the exhibition is the two days of business networking lunches for invited exhibitors to mingle with the hosted buyers and selected media. “This allows more interactions outside of the pre-scheduled B2B sessions”, said Mr Liu.
Chengdu is the provisional capital of Sichuan. The city has an urban population of over 10 million people and the province has a population of over 81 million people. It is the fifth largest urban centre in Asia and so one of the most important economic centres in the world.
The organiser, CEMS has a track record of 29 successful editions of professional international tourism exhibitions such as BITE, BITM, CGITE, XSRITE, and CITE, with participants from across 80 countries over the last 15 years.
For more information on the 6th Chengdu International Tourism Expo (CITE) 2018, please visit www.CITEChina.asia.
