2017 is the tourism year of Sino-Australia. On May 23, Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development held a tourism promotion conference for the public in Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia, which is a climax of the promotion meetings in Singapore, Australia and the Philippines.
Themed on “Charming Beijing”, the meetings was hosted in QV Shopping Mall in Melbourne. Yu Debin, Deputy Head of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Wang Xiaojia, Commercial Counselor of Chinese Embassy in Melbourne, and Philip Le Liu, Councilor of Melbourne, attended and addressed the meeting. More than 500 guests including the representatives of Victoria Government and airline companies were present at the meetings and visited the picture exhibition about Beijing.
Because of the previous online dissemination, the meeting attracted numerous local people to participate in. The activities including Chinese calligraphy writing Peking Opera mask painting and performance were very popular and people took photos with their works. In addition, all kinds of prizes including Beijing-Melbourne round-trip tickets provided by Air China the China Open Final tickets and the free accommodation in quadrangle provided by the Beijing Jintai Quadrangle Hotel attracted people taking part in activities. Local people knew more about Beijing tourism through activities such as Q&A, souvenirs receiving and VR interaction.
At the meanwhile, in order to improve the brand image and extend the marketing platform of Beijing tourism, Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, co-organized with Air China, hosted a specialized promotion meeting for tourism industry in Australia. By resource sharing, more than 110 representatives of tourism industry were convened in Melbourne. Wang Rui, a member of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development introduced tourism attractions in Beijing and the newest tourism policies. Wang Bo, from China Travel Service presented the classic travel routes and in-depth travel routes in Beijing. Luo Weijian, Chairman of CNTA in Sydney, Yu Debin, Deputy Head of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Huang Yuanyuan, General Manager of Air China Business Office in Melbourne and Nigel Aldons from Investment Authority of Victoria attended and addressed the meeting. The new cooperation mode “Tourism and Airline” was fully admitted. The prizes including accommodation sponsored by Beijing Jintai Quandrangle Hotel and Intercontinental Beijing Sanlitun Hotel four-night and three-day cultural tour in Beijing supported by China Travel Service and round-trip tickets for business class and economy class between Beijing and Melbourne provided by Air China, were especially welcomed during the meeting.
The people in tourism industry showed high opinions on this professional meeting. They expressed that they knew Beijing deeply by the meeting. They are willing to organize more local people to travel to Beijing and experience Chinese culture. After the meeting, Simon Breman, Director of Consolidated Travel Group said that the abundant information delivered by the meeting contributed to designing Beijing tourism product in the future. Krystyna Teper, a traveling saleman from Teper Travel considered that the departure tax refund scheme and the visa-free policy in Beijing were attractive for foreign tourists staying. Surprisingly there was an old China hand that had been to Beijing many times among the retailers. He noted that he knew more about Beijing and found more charming places by this meeting. He is planning for the next tour in Beijing.
The specialized promotion meeting for tourism industry was the first large-scale overseas joint promotion event since Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development reached a strategic cooperation agreement with Air China in February. Supported by Beijing tourism resources and the platform of Air China, a co-organized specialized promotion meeting for tourism companies and retailers in Australia ended successfully.
