Record Number of Visitors at COTTM 2009

The fifth China Outbound Travel Tourism Market (COTTM) welcomed a record number of visitors to the event held last April 22 to 24 at the China World Trade Center in Beijing. The event that received 3,258 visitors in three days is the only business-to-business (B2B) show devoted to the Chinese outbound travel and tourism industry. Major partners of the event include the National Tour Association, the Pacific Asia Travel Association, and the European Tour Operators Association, as well as media partners from China and across the world.

Exhibitors from over 50 countries took part at this year’s event where a large number of buyers were eager to get hold of the finest destinations and services for China’s burgeoning outbound travel market.

This year’s event featured a debate among China’s top outbound operators that included the Beijing Jiedajiaqi International Travel Service, Hua Yuan International Travel, Air China Travel Service, and the Beijing UTS International Travel Service Co, all of whom have formed partnerships with COTTM. Entitled, “How to face Economic Challenges”, the debate offered advice on how countries and companies can surmount financial difficulties.

The Chinese Tourists Welcoming (CTW) Awards also took place on the last day of the event and was hosted by Wolfgang Georg Alt, director of the Germany-based China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI). The CTW award is given in recognition of countries and companies that have gone out of their way to accommodate the specific requirements of Chinese travelers abroad. For this year, the Helsinki City Tourist & Convention Bureau (Finland) won the gold for the category of product innovation.

Source: Travel Daily News at www.traveldailynews.com