China’s tourism development: Life begins at 40

The number of outbound Chinese tourists exceeded 130 million in 2017, making China the world’s largest source of outbound tourists once again.

Early each summer, the Shanghai World Travel Fair (SWTF) is hosted in Shanghai, gathering travel agencies, industry professionals and travel enthusiasts. With outbound travel as the ultimate specialty, SWTF has attracted many loyal participants, including those from the Czech Republic, Peru, Malaysia, Tunisia and Turkey.

(Left to right: Vladimir Kocerha (Economic and Commercial Counselor of Peru in Shanghai), Maria Chen (Marketing Manager of Czech Tourist Authority - CzechTourism, Shanghai Office), Zarina Dolah Judin (Director of Tourism Malaysia, Shanghai), Ozgur Ayturk (Counselor of Turkish Embassy Culture and Tourism Section), Karim Jatlaoui (Chief Representative of Tunisian National Tourist Office) at the 15th SWTF.)

It has been 10 years since the Tunisian National Tourist Office first took part in the SWTF. Karim Jatlaoui, Chief Representative of the Office, was very glad to witness this. He told the reporter,“Last year, we got the Best Destination of Africa for our Tunisia booth, and we did many advertising on the buses of Shanghai and had many of our promotional videos played thanks to SWTF. We thank SWTF a lot.”

Apart from serving as an effective platform of exploring the Chinese market for exhibitors, the annual fair also allows the world to see the changes and growth of China’s tourism industry, where Shanghai acts as a window of China’s opening up to the outside world, and has consistently ranked among the top destinations for tourists.

A more mature market

When it comes to modern tourism, China is nearly a century behind Western countries. From 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, to 1978, there was no official tourism industry in China. Since 1978, when China launched the policy of reform and opening up, the tourism industry has entered a new historical period. Thanks to the reform and opening up, China has become a huge tourist destination, and its growing tourism has boosted the mutual exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

“I still remember the first year we participated in this event. Most of the consumers and businesses who came to our booth would ask one question: Is this Czechoslovakia?” said Maria Chen, Marketing Manager of Czech Tourist Authority - CzechTourism, Shanghai Office. “Chinese market was not familiar with the Czech Republic as an independent state and thus a tourist destination at that time. But I have found this market becoming more and more mature within these last five years. Chinese customers do not usually ask these kinds of questions again. On the contrary they keep asking us about other famous cities and tourist destinations in the Czech Republic. They all know Prague, Český Krumlov and Karlovy Vary, but they want to explore more and get much deeper understanding of the country. Therefore I believe tourism in China has already become mature enough.”

2018 marks the 5th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Turkey, a country at the end of the ancient Silk Road, is celebrating the China-Turkey Tourism Year. According to Ozgur Ayturk, Counselor of the Turkish Embassy Culture and Tourism Section, by the end of this year, aside from many dance and musical performances, a Turkey Festival will be held in Shanghai. Statistics show that in 2017, the number of Chinese tourists to Turkey reached 247,000, an increase of 47.57% over 2016. Thanks to the China-Turkey Tourism Year, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Turkey in 2018 is expected to reach a new high.

Technology has promoted the transformation of China’s tourism industry. First of all, the Internet has spawned new types of tourism. During the interview with eastday.com, the interviewees from different countries allmentioned OTAs (online travel agencies). Some of them even cooperate with OTA companies such as Ctrip and Tongcheng. Second, long-distance travel has gradually become the choice of more people. As Vladimir Kocerha, the Economic and Commercial Counselor of Peru in Shanghai, pointed out, “Because of the distance, sometimes people think: oh, Peru is too far, too long to get there, jet leg,... But no, the world is becoming smaller. Technology is allowing us to get there faster. And communications. People are now by word of mouth telling about the good things about the destination of Peru.” He added,“Engaging with Chinese travelers has become something that we had not expected before. We were not expecting this would grow so fast: year on year, the number of Chinese travelers has been growing by almost 40%. So we are expecting this to keep on growing at the same rate in the next years to come.”

A new journey for Shanghai

Having been in Shanghai since 2008, Vladimir told the reporter, “I’ve seen the opening up of China, particularly in Shanghai when they prepared for the Expo Shanghai 2010. It was an unbelievable experience. The city was preparing to bring the world to Shanghai. This has been an ongoing process that has been accelerating in the past years... For example, the China International Import Expo will be happening in November. China is looking to again bring the world in this place in Shanghai and to bring the products, the people and the services together.” In his opinion, thanks to reform and opening up, China is becoming international. Another key word is globalization.“The world is taking in China’s participation. The world and China have always had the same wave in a global way.”

“Life begins at 40.” That’s the words Zarina Dolah Judin - Director of Tourism Malaysia, Shanghai - uses to describe the 40 years of opening up of China. Looking back onto the last four decades, there is no doubt that reform and opening up was the only way to create prosperity for the Chinese people. China has been opening up for the last 40 years, which will reach historical heights in 2018, unleashing economic vitality in many sectors and fields. She believes it will become a major force for development in the next 10 to 20 years. These measures will have a dramatic impact on China’s economy and the whole of society. 40 years marks a new beginning for China.

In her novel “The Song of Everlasting Sorrow,” Chinese writer Wang Anyi describes Shanghai as “The Paris of the East.” The city is never short of visitors and tourism is a pillar industry of Shanghai. The boom of tourism has led to the development of the aviation market. On December 12, 2016, Shanghai, with two international airports (Pudong and Hongqiao), became only the world’s fifth city to handle more than 100 million annual air passengers, following London, New York, Tokyo and Atlanta. In 2017, Shanghai’s tourism revenue hit 448.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.7%. It received 318 million domestic tourists and 8.73 million foreign tourist arrivals. The expansion of the tourist economy has furthermore brought about the agglomeration of leading tourism companies.

Nowadays, while opening up more to the world, Shanghai aims to turn itself into a world-renowned tourist city and a world-class tourist destination by 2035. With high expectations on Shanghai’s tourism, other countries in the world are offering their suggestions. For instance, as Zarina Dolah Judin said, “The relationship between Malaysia and China began 600 years ago. To us, China is not a new country. But here I’d like to talk about tourism. Connectivity is very important for tourists to commute from one country to another. Now we only have one direct flight from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur. I heard in 2022, China will have the world’s largest amphibious aircraft. So I really hope with this new development, airlines from China can add more flights from Shanghai or from any parts of China to go to Malaysia.” Ozgur Ayturk focuses more on the sustainability of tourism. He said, “The challenges for Shanghai, as a tourist-welcoming city, are sustainable tourism and diversifying the tourist resources, in the coming 10 or 15 years.”

(Wishes for the ongoing process of reform and opening up from Vladimir Kocerha, Economic and Commercial Counselor of Peru in Shanghai)

(Wishes for the ongoing process of reform and opening up from Karim Jatlaoui, Chief Representative of Tunisian National Tourist Office)

(Wishes for the ongoing process of reform and opening up from Zarina Dolah Judin, Director of Tourism Malaysia Shanghai)

(Wishes for the ongoing process of reform and opening up from Ozgur Ayturk, Counselor of Turkish Embassy Culture and Tourism Section)

(Wishes for the ongoing process of reform and opening up from Stepan Pavlik, Director of Czech Tourist Authority - CzechTourism Shanghai Office: Best wishes for China’s further reform and opening up. We hope China will work with the Czech Republic, the EU and the rest of the world, to create a beautiful home that is peaceful, fair, free and equal, and pay attention to the protection of the ecological environment, humanity and nature, while seeking economic development.)