China

A series of case studies, presented at the first China Responsible Tourism Forum (CRTF) in Beijing on December 16, confirmed that responsible tourism is firmly on the agenda among small- and medium-sized enterprises in China.

The sold-out forum, organized by PATA in cooperation with the Organizing Committee of the China International Heritage Towns Exposition, was moderated by CCTV Business News anchor, Deidre Morris Wang. Coinciding with the launch of the new PATA China Board, the PATA China Beijing Chapter, and first PATA Student Chapter in China at Beijing International Studies University, the forum brought together more than 130 delegates from the country’s public and private sectors, as well as national and international experts in the field of responsible tourism.

The 201 edition of "Essential China Travel Trends Book" is available for download from DragonTrail.com

2 Billion+ Domestic, 50 Million+ Outbound Travelers in 2011

The China Tourism Academy (CTA) in Beijing reports further strong developments in domestic and outbound tourism in China for the first three quarters of 2011, while inbound tourism growth is still lagging behind. As a result, the trade deficit of China’s international travel surpassed 10 billion USD for the first time. The results were published in Chinese, translated and edited by China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, based in Heide (Germany) and Beijing (China).

The Chinese tourism market has grown rapidly, whilst the satisfaction index has continued to improve Currently, the environment for tourism development in China is overall favorable.

Visit China and Korea (www.visitchinaandkorea.com)

In this article "Destination Partnerships- Who's your buddy?" by AbouTourism (published on October 10th, 2011), examples of destinations joining forces for more effective tourism product development and targeted marketing. Lesson: For increased destination awareness, visitors expenditure and local economic development, two - or in some cases more - can be better than one!