The organizers of ITB China, China’s largest B2B exclusive travel trade show, have recently launched the “ITB China Industry MeetUp” event series. The new event format is designed to get updated on the latest trends and insights of all major regional Chinese source markets, and to meet face-to-face with buyers from all over China. The events are set to take place in seven major cities in China between September and November 2020.
On Monday, September 7, Mr. Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of the European Travel Commission, and Mr. David Axiotis, General Manager of Messe Berlin Exhibitions (Shanghai), the organizer of ITB China, signed an agreement, confirming The European Travel Commission (ETC) to become the official co-host of all ITB China Industry MeetUp events in 2020.
"We're proud to team up again with ITB China and co-host the newly launched ITB China Industry Meetup events. The progressive recovery of Chinese domestic travel and revival of consumer confidence shows that China will be one of the first markets to see a recovery in international outbound travel. It's essential to relaunch close cooperation with Chinese partners and stakeholders to ensure speedy recovery as soon as the situation allows. We believe that the ITB China Industry Meetup will be the perfect platform for ETC and its Members to coordinate this dialogue and strengthen existing and develop new B2B relationships," said Mr. Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of the European Travel Commission
Being the organization responsible for the promotion of Europe as a tourist destination, ETC is paying tribute to its overall mission and to its exposed role as co-host of the events by leading a broad and representative range of European destination representatives to attend the Industry Meetup events. Confirmed European sponsors including among others are VisitMalta, German National Tourist Board, Visit Finland, Turismo de Portugal, Atout France and many others. Among the European destinations, Switzerland Tourism will be especially highlighted with representatives of around ten of its national partners taking part, such as Basel Tourism, Valais Matterhorn Region, Lake Lucerne Region, Lake Geneva Region and many more joining different stations of the Indutry MeetUp.
“China has always been an important source market for Switzerland. We’ve established many relations in China and are looking forward to meeting more potential partners during the ITB China Industry MeetUp events. We believe these events will help us gain deeper insights into the current Chinese market.” Said Ms. Grace Gao, Deputy Director of China, Switzerland Tourism.
The truly global bandwidth of demand to attend the Industry MeetUp events is then further underlined by a long list of confirmed sponsors from around the world attending different stations of the Industry MeetUp such as Japan National Tourism Organization, Tourism New Zealand, VariFlight, Oceanpayment. World-class Hospitality Groups such as Marriot International, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Tokyu Hotels, RIU Hotels & Resorts and carriers such as the Lufthansa Group complete the sponsor profile.
The kick-off Industry MeetUp will be held in Shenzhen, at the JW Marriott Hotel Shenzhen, on September 24, 2020 with all sponsor spaces sold out. The event expects senior attendees from the leading travel agencies of south China and high-ranking experts from the industry to participate. Featured content workshops will look at the main aspects of “Travel Marketing Digitalization”, “The Transformation of Travel Agencies”, “Opportunities in the Current Market” and more.
Mr. Zhang Jun, General Manager of Xinjingjie, an established brand of Shenzhen CITS (China International Travel Service), and leading travel company in South China, is confirmed to deliver an opening keynote at the Shenzhen event: “As China’s domestic travel market is picking up, for industry professionals, the upcoming ITB China Industry MeetUp events will be a valuable gathering of insiders that fits the current situation and strives to explore industry trends and opportunities, and also to prepare for the future recovery of the outbound travel market. I look forward to sharing my experience, insights and prospect with industry peers at the event in Shenzhen.”
Travel professionals interested to attend the kick-off event in Shenzhen are asked to contact exhibitor@itb-china.com in order to secure a space. Further participation details about the ITB China Industry MeetUp events can also be found at http://www.itb-china.com/industry_meetup/
The buyer registration for the ITB China Industry MeetUp events – Shenzhen station is now open, buyers are invited to register through http://itbchina.mikecrm.com/ACi89PC
Exhibitors interested to attend ITB China 2021, China’s largest B2B exclusive travel trade show taking place May 12-14, 2021, can benefit from a discount of 10 percent on their stand rental fees by registering before Sep 30, 2020: exhibitor@itb-china.com.
