Welcome and nihao • Nice to see so many people here today interested in exploring the travel business opportunities that China’s outbound market represents. • China, a country only recently opened up to the west, and still hardly understood, or rather misunderstood here, is throwing open its doors to tourism in both directions. But – with many checks and controls in place to support and protect local companies from foreign competition. While WTO officially opens the way for foreign tourism companies to compete in the Chinese market place, the government created various regulations to limit their scope of business. • Having spent the past three years in China promoting outbound travel to the Chinese, I have an up to date perspective on who travels to Europe, how they travel and what they expect from their trip. My work in China covered dealings with the private tourism sector and government departments responsible for tourism administration. In the short space of 3 years there have been significant changes to policy and major changes in the industry, such as the advent of online tourism marketing and travel reservations, creation of new international joint ventures and the first licensed wholly owned foreign tourism agencies (for inbound business only). The China national tourism administration and the provincial tourism boards have become much more aware of the need for international cooperation..
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