Tourism: ENIT relaunches relations with Chinese tour operators and paves the way for Italian companies
PRESS RELEASE
TOURISM: ENIT RELAUNCHES RELATIONS WITH CHINESE TOUR OPERATORS AND PAVES THE WAY FOR ITALIAN COMPANIES
MEETING WITH THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND FOUR EVENTS FOR MAJOR BUYERS FROM BEIJING, SHANGHAI, GUANGZHOU AND CHONGQING
ENIT, the Italian National Tourism Board, paves the way for Italian companies planning to enter or reposition themselves on the Chinese market with four events scheduled in the main cities of the Middle Kingdom and a summit with the highest officials of the Ministry of Tourism of the People's Republic of China. ENIT Managing Director Ivana Jelinic's mission to China began with a meeting in Beijing with the Director General of the International Exchange Department of the Chinese Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Zheng Hao, with whom the current state of bilateral tourism relations was outlined and synergies agreed upon to foster more effective and stable relations between companies from the two countries. Director Zheng confirmed how Italy, following the reopening of China's borders to international travel, is at the top of Chinese tourists’ preferences. This perspective is also confirmed by the approximately 350 Chinese tour operators registered for ENIT’s roadshow in China: four events scheduled in the most important cities in terms of origin of tourist flows from China to Italy, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing. The appointments are aimed at re-establishing connections with the Chinese tourism industry in a particularly strategic phase in which Chinese outbound companies are developing new products in line with the trends that have emerged from the post-pandemic period and are therefore seeking relations with international partners. To this end, ENIT has developed a B2B platform on WeChat, China’s main digital application, to encourage meetings between companies from the two countries, and launched it on the very occasion of the roadshow, collecting a high number of registrations from Chinese buyers who took part in the first stages in Beijing and Shanghai.
‘The reopening of China’s borders to international travel is an undeniable opportunity for Italian destinations and businesses,’ comments Ivana Jelinic. ‘The return of Chinese tourists to our cities has already begun and an initial influx of arrivals is expected as early as the golden week of October, the national holiday. In this relaunch phase, Chinese business is reorganising itself to meet the challenges posed by a very different global context than in 2019 and changes in the travel preferences of potential customers. ENIT - which has two offices in China in Beijing and Shanghai - is working towards 2024, a year that we believe will be the moment when arrivals from China will return to the levels of 2019, when Italy was the leading destination for the number of Chinese tourists in Europe, and perhaps even surpass them. We have dedicated time and resources to analysing the evolution of the market and we have registered an overwhelming desire for Italy and all that in the imagination of Chinese citizens our country represents: art, culture, beauty, good food and creativity. ENIT wants to accompany Italian companies to alleviate the complexity of such a distant but strategic market,’ Jelinic concludes.