EU-China Tourism Year to kick off in Venice

(ANSA) - Rome, January 18 - The 2018 EU-China Tourism Year will be inaugurated on Friday in Venice with the participation of Italian Culture and Tourism Minister Dario Franceschini, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and Nikolina Angelkkova, tourism minister of Bulgaria, which holds the rotating EU presidency.
    The Chinese tourism market represents a key opportunity for Europe with eight million Chinese tourists registered in 2016, 20 million reservations - up 12% on 2014 - and an expenditure of around eight billion euros.
    Overall, 122 million Chinese travelled worldwide although less than 10% of the population has a passport.
    Many institutional leaders and operators will be meeting in Venice to discuss strategies to attract Chinese tourists to Italy and Europe.
    Participants will include Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Du Jiang, vice president of the China National Tourism Administration.
    Federica Mogherini, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be attending, as well as Veneto Governor Luca Zaia and Pansy Ho, the founder and president of theGlobal Tourism Economy Research Centre.
    China is the largest tourism market in terms of expenditure and number of trips abroad.
    However, the market could further grow by cutting red tape, increasing the number of Chinese interpreters, improving connections and by offering more palatable packages and services, including free wi-fi everywhere, operators say.
    Welcome Chinese is the partner for the organization of all events promoting the EU-China tourism year.
    Welcome Chinese is the only official certification recognized by the Chinese government dedicated to the hospitality of Chinese tourists, issued by the China Tourism Academy in collaboration with national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) and China Union Pay, the only credit card circuit issued in China.
    The second promotional event after Venice will take place in Berlin on March 6, to coincide with Europe's leading travel trade show ITB and the third will be held in Beijing on April 16.