A signing ceremony between the China National Tourism Administration (“CNTA”) and HNA Group for the global expansion of HNA Group’s tourism operations was held in Haikou, China on 30 November. Tourism officials, officials from the Hainan Provincial Party Committee as well as HNA Group board chairman Chen Feng, board member and executive president Li Xianhua, HNA Group board member and HNA Tourism Holding (Group) (“HNA Tourism”) chairman Liu Jiaxu, HNA Group board member Chen Wenli, Hainan Airlines chairman and president Wang Yingming and HNA Tourism executive chairman and CEO Zhang Ling were present.
One of HNA Group’s three strategic businesses, HNA Tourism, a China air tourism leader, will be one of the key pilot members under CNTA’s reform program. The agreement between CNTA and HNA highlights HNA Tourism’s global strategy through mergers and acquisitions with tourism businesses around the world.
HNA Tourism, through its 16 member companies, is committed to building a complete tourism industry chain and new tourism economy in China using the best new technologies. HNA Tourism, together with the international offices of HNA Group, will closely work with the CNTA, promoting China tourism around the world and incorporating aspects of China’s traditional culture into their products and services. Working with travel agencies throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, HNA Tourism will aggressively establish businesses in these markets to expand its hotel and commercial businesses, speed up the establishment of an international tourism services network, increase the number of its specially-designated merchants in major international markets and create an electronic payment and settlement network.
As part of its efforts to encourage and support HNA Tourism’s strategy, HNA Group will support the expansion of HNA Tourism’s business areas such as opening international routes and will allow HNA Tourism to make use of its offices and operating sites both within and outside of China to expand the network of specially-designated merchants overseas and maintain good relationships with governments all over the world.
The agreement between CNTA and HNA Group is in line with the Opinions of the State Council on Accelerating the Development of Tourism Industry and China’s strategic call to encourage businesses to be more proactive. HNA Tourism plans to rapidly develop its domestic and international tourism business, and, by doing so, become an example for other firms who want to maximize the synergy between aviation and tourism as a successful business model for the tourism sector.
