Chengdu hosts global online travel event

Representatives for travel and Internet companies from 20 countries and regions meet to discuss the integration of the two industries. Provided to China Daily

Liu Suibin (front), head of the Qingcheng faction of Taoism, teaches participants in the conference to practice tai chi at the gate of Qingcheng Mountain. Provided to China Daily

Province boosts industry through integration and series of expos

The tourism industry is using the Internet for innovative development, Hao Kangli, head of the Sichuan Tourism Administration, told a tourism conference.

The fourth Global Travel E-commerce Conference, which was hosted in Dujiangyan in Chengdu, from Sept 21 to 23, attracted more than 30 online travel companies and Internet companies from 20 countries and regions, including Google, Facebook, Agoda and C-trip, as well as domestic tourism companies.

At the event, which is also known as GTEC2015, representatives discussed the development of global online tourism and the integration of tourism with other industries.

The GTEC2015 facilitated one-to-one talks to ensure effective deals could be made. It offered networking for 150 global representatives from online travel agencies and 150 Chinese tourism service providers.

Hao delivered a speech on "Internet plus tourism and tourism plus Internet".

He said that the wave of Internet plus tourism has spread all over the world, while tourism plus Internet, where travel companies play a leading role, has just started.

Other participants in the three-day event included Liao Ming, head of APAC Marketing Science at Facebook, and Chen Jianhao, vice-president of Google China.

The Sichuan Tourism Administration and the Chengdu city government organized the conference. It comprised eight activities where enterprises and government agencies talked about integration and development of "Internet plus" and "tourism plus" and sought cooperation.

A part of the conference, an O2O fair adopted the one-on-one model and offered domestic and foreign online tourism agencies opportunities to discuss business with local offline travel providers and those who have tourism resources.

Global leaders from online tourism agencies and travel administrators in Sichuan gave advice and suggestions on the long-term development of Sichuan's tourism at the CEO roundtable meeting.

An O2O marketing alliance of China inbound tourism was set up at the roundtable meeting, which will help integrate offline providers' resources and global distribution channels, officials at the provincial tourism administration said.

Important topics

Important topics at the GTEC2015 included the win-win methods of social media and e-commerce as well as future development of the Internet.

Some participants were executives at international travel organizations, websites and network operators from the United States, Spain, Germany and South Korea.

The Global Travel E-commerce Conference has been held four times since 2012. The other three sessions took place in Chengdu, Deyang and Mianyang in Sichuan province.

All four sessions resulted in a number of cooperation projects in online tourism, especially online marketing, the provincial tourism authorities said.

This year's conference focused on a combination of the Internet and tourism.

With the support of the State tourism authority, the integration of tourism and the Internet has gained momentum recently.

Li Jinzao, chief of the National Tourism Administration, said on Sept 20 that it was committed to fostering an open and inclusive environment for the tourism plus Internet practice.

He said China has become the world's largest outbound travel market and the fourth-largest inbound tourism destination.

The nation also has the biggest number of netizens since the Internet developed in the country more than two decades ago.

China is the world's largest manufacturing hub of electronic products and its information consumption market has huge potential.

Li said tourism plus Internet integrates two fields that have more customers than any other sector and will definitely involve huge demand.

He estimated that 1 trillion yuan ($157 billion) would be needed in the next five years to develop China's tourism Internet infrastructure and upgrade basic infrastructure including scenic spots, hotels and travel agencies in an intelligent way and via the Internet.

Golden opportunity

It will be a golden opportunity for basic network operators and Internet-related companies, according to Li.

Like Internet plus, tourism plus has become a hot phrase as tourism penetrates many other industries, insiders said.

According to them, Sichuan has entered an era where tourism-plus industries are developing.

A report issued in July by the Sichuan Tourism Administration and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics shows that the province's tourist sector has integrated into related traditional industries, which resulted in new industries such as tourism-plus agriculture, tourism plus real estate and tourism plus finance.

Chengdu won the bid for the 22nd United Nations World Tourism Organization's General Assembly on Sept 15. The UNWTO event will be held in 2017.

Li Jinzao said China's national tourism authority welcomes travel companies and Internet companies to join the assembly and help develop Chinese tourism as well as the global tourist industry.

The biennial UNWTO General Assembly is the highest-level meeting in the international tourist circle.

China will host the event for the second time after it was held in Beijing in 2003.

Insiders said the fact that the event will be held in a city in western China for the first time shows the world's increasing interest in development in the region.

Success in winning the bid is significant for Sichuan to become an influential province in tourism economy and a world-class travel destination, insiders said.

The second Sichuan International Travel Expo took place in Emeishan city from Sept 24 to 26.

Officials from the provincial tourism bureau said Sichuan is boosting development of its local tourist industry through large-scale and insightful events.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 09/29/2015 page10)