Beijing – Rimini, 28th November 2016 – The distance from China has been shortened for the tourism world too. Italian Exhibition Group, the new trade expo player formed by the merger between Rimini Fiera and Fiera di Vicenza, is launching Travel Trade Market, the international B2B expo dedicated to the world tourist industry, being held from October 24 al 26 2017 in Chengdu, at the Chinese metropolis’s new expo centre.
The new expo project was announced – during a press conference held today in Beijing, at the Italian Embassy with the participation of Italy’s Ambassador in China H.E.Ettore Sequi – by Matteo Marzotto, vice president of Italian Exhibition Group, along with Paolo Audino, Italian Exhibition Group’s international business director, and Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy.
This was followed by a round table where participants were joined by Li Bo, General Manager of Vision Fair China and Massimo Gaudiano, First Secretary of the Consular Chancery at the Italian Embassy in Beijing.
The new expo is the result of a joint venture between Italian Exhibition Group and Vision Fair China, Chengdu’s primary expo organizer, and realized in partnership with the CTA China Tourism Academy, a national institute responsible for tourism research and promotion that is under the control of the China National Tourism Administration. Three solid organizations, with experience in expos and tourism, which ensure excellent prospects for the project.
Italian Exhibition Group President Lorenzo Cagnoni says, “This is the beginning of a process of which we are aware of both the prospects and the difficulties.We are facing it with determination and our intentions correspond with those of the Chinese institutional and entrepreneurial participants, who will work with us on realizing the project. Here we are talking about tourism and the environment, sectors that can serve us as trail-blazers for other projects, alone or in collaboration with other expos.”
Matteo Marzotto, Vice President of Italian Exhibition Group, stresses, “We are proud of this first important partnership, with such a high international profile, signed by our company. The agreement represents the important acknowledgment of IEG as a global exhibition provider, with the know-how and competence of things “Well Done in Italy”, which we shall be able to put at the service of an area and a city with extraordinary potential, particularly in the sectors in which this partnership will develop. We shall undertake to make TTM Asia’s new strategic Marketplace for the international tourist business chain.”
IEG international business Director Paolo Audino explains in detail, “We are transferring over 40 years’ experience in organizing expos dedicated to the tourism business to Chengdu, with the aim of establishing an innovative format that goes beyond a merely commercial relationship with exhibiting clients, extending it into all-round sharing of contents and objectives, to ensure measurable results.”
Travel Trade Market promises to be a great Marketplace for the enterprises and institutions involved in tourist traffic to and from China, under the banner of rapidly growing business, due to a really impetuous development of the travel sector.
The expo will involve trade members and companies along the entire chain: tourist transport (by plane and cruise liner), bus operators, equipment for the hotel industry and outdoors, technology applied to tourism, etc.
Travel Trade Market aims at the participation of 600 exhibitors right from the first edition and over a thousand buyers from all over the world, with meetings planned on a dedicated online platform. The territorial focus of Travel Trade Market will be the entire continent of Asia.
The expo will also host the TTM NEXT area, dedicated to the most innovative phenomena as far as contents, technology and service are concerned, with reports from Chinese start-ups concentrating on tourist business. At least 150 meetings are foreseen, with contents addressing knowledge of the market and the most effective operational techniques.
The Beijing presentation also hosted the signing of a memorandum of intent between the Chengdu expo company and TTG Incontri, the international tourism exhibition organized by IEG at Rimini Fiera (the most important in Italy and one of the very top in Europe, the last edition of which was attended by 1,200 companies and 70,000 international trade members) to launch an exchange of data, expo information and training targeting the Italy-China tourist market.
TOURISM: THE CHINESE MARKET
In recent years, thank to rapid socio-economic development, tourism has become an important part of Chinese people’s day-to-day life.
In the first half of 2016, the number of Chinese tourists who travelled abroad totalled 127 million, with an increase of 4.1%; revenue from the tourist trade exceeded 300 billion euros, with a reported rise of 12.4%.
Tourism development encourages investment and last year the sum created by tourism exceeded 137 billion euros, with an increase of 42%. Estimated spending by Chinese tourists abroad is almost 170 billion euros per year.
According to the figures published by the World Tourism Organization, since 2012, China has always been the top country for tourism consumption abroad, and accounts for over 13% of world tourism revenue.
The future will be under the banner of a greater tendency to spend, a trend that will have a positive effect on the budget allocated to travel which, according to the latest UNWTO figures, reached 164.9 billion dollars in 2014, with an increase of over 28% compared to the previous year.
THE CITY OF CHENGDU
Chengdu, with its 15 million inhabitants, is a metropolis located in South West China, and is the capital of the province of Sichuan (90 million inhabitants). As well as being one of the most populous cities, Chengdu is one of the country’s most important economic hubs and a crucial point for China’s transport and communication systems.
The area is a driving force for the economy, as well as for business dynamics, thanks to the presence of important universities and its position, a natural platform for travel to and from Europe. A doorway to South-East Asia and crossroads of financial and economic business. According to the WTO, Chengdu has enormous potential and is destined to become one of the world’s most visited cities.
