To the ones interested on China’s outbound tourism, a panel will take place on November 6th at World Travel Market in London to highlight professionals about the newest trends.
LONDON – Nov. 6th, 2012 is a date to be marked in red in the agenda of everyone working with the Chinese tourism source market. As part of the BRICS session of WTM World Travel Market in London, a China Business Network panel will unite some of the best-known experts on the Chinese outbound market.
In 2011 more than 70 million Mainland Chinese have crossed their border to visit other countries and regions. The number has been projected by COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute to rise to at least 80 million by the end of 2012, set to outshine the United States and Germany as the prime source market for international tourism.
The rise of China’s outbound tourism is clearly connected to the recent Chinese economic miracle and the still burgeoning Chinese upper-middle class. The select group of new economic powerhouses of the BRICS countries are all experiencing this growth in outbound travels. Among them China has experienced the largest exponential growth, and together with the Russians the Chinese are renowned to be the world’s biggest spenders during their travels. This rapidly rising consumption by Chinese tourists helps to ease the slowing effects of the global economical crisis on the western tourism and retail businesses, an opportunity that should be grasped with both hands, especially as the “New Chinese Tourists” start to move beyond the path of visiting only the most famous sights in the most famous places.
At WTM 2012 (Nov. 5-8), BRICS sessions will have a China focus. As one of two panels organized by China Business Network, there will be a session about the current state of the Chinese outbound market. Leading experts will share their knowledge about the wants and needs of Chinese affluent leisure and business travellers and join their insightful views on how to best grab the fruits of the staggering rise in Chinese travellers.
The panel will be chaired by Dr. Adam Wu, COO of China Business Network. The panellists are Dr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO); Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, Director of China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI); Tom Jenkins, Executive Director of European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), Mary Rance, Chief Executive of UKinbound and Marcel Schneider, CEO of TUI China. Prof. Arlt will specially highlight the different tools becoming available to tourism service providers to customize products for the special needs of the Chinese market.
The panel will take place from 16.45h to 17.30h, Tuesday November 6th, in ExCeL, London, South Gallery Room 19. There is no admission charge for this session, but visitors have to register for WTM admission beforehand on the website of WTM.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
