Life of Guangzhou - Foreign Countries Lure Guangzhou Tourists

From March 30 to April 1, the annual Guangzhou International Travel Fair was held at Guangzhou Jinhan Exhibition Centre, reflecting that more and more foreign countries are stepping up the pace to lure Cantonese travelers.

Deputy General Director of China National Tourism Administration Mr. Gu Chaoxi, Vice Mayor of Guangzhou Ms. Wang Xiaoling and Director General of Guangzhou Tourism Bureau Mr. Zhu Li attended the ceremony.

Over 30 countries and regions including Korea, Japan, Australia, India and Germany took part in the travel fair. The largest booth, covering 470 square meters, was occupied by the Canadian Tourism Commission who participated in the fair for the first time.

According to the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO), the topic of the year is ‘Saemaul Undong Spirit of Korea’, meaning the development of travel incentives for company and student trips. KTO will also deepen the cultural experiences of travelers in single places rather than offer superficial visits to several cites.

‘Incredible India’, was the theme of the Indian Tourism Board. Mr. S.R. Meena, from India Tourism expressed that India was the land of Buddhist heritage sites and also recommended spices, wildlife and yoga to the local Guangzhou people.

The Minister of Malaysian tourism Mr. Suhaimi Shaharuddin illustrated his target for the year, hoping to lure over one million Chinese, including 500 thousand from South China to travel to Malaysia in 2007.

Though this was the first time for the Canadian Tourism Commission to join the fair, Deputy Minister of Ontario Tourism Ministry Mr. Daivid L. Lindsay showed their confidence. “We expect the number of travelers from China to increase by 20％ over last year.”

Salzburg, Austria raised the slogan, ‘the stage of the world’ and offered a ‘sound of music tour’ to draw Chinese citizens.

In addition, ‘Star Cruises’ and Italian Style ‘Costa’ cruise compete for travel to exotic island destinations.

Other foreign countries not mentioned still pay high attention to the South China travel market, due to the fact that Guangdong supplies half of China’s travelers. According to Guangdong Provincial Tourism Bureau, the number of outbound tourists Organized by travel agencies reached 2,210,000 in 2006. Moreover, outbound-tourists from Guangdong port reached 20,000,000, exceeding the number from the rest of China which supplied 14,520,000.

Vice Mayor of Guangzhou Ms. Wang Xiaoling delivered a speech.

Canadian Tourism Commission participated in the fair for the first time, but their booth is the largest.

Incentive travel for companies and students are mainly developed in Korea.

The booth of Incredible India

Malaysia hopes to lure 500 thousand South China Tourists in 2007.

The booth of Egyptian Tourist Authority

(Written and photographed by Shanna Chu，proofread by Alan Devey)