WITH every destination in the world courting the huge China outbound market, Messe Berlin marks 50 years of ITB Berlin this year with a new offshoot, ITB China, which will debut next year in Shanghai from May 10-12.
The show will be organised by a new subsidiary of Messe Berlin, MB Exhibitions (Shanghai), and will focus exclusively on Chinese buyers meeting global destinations and service providers, ITB China general manager David Axiotis told TTG Asia.
Its local partner is TravelDaily China, which will also jointly organise an ITB China Convention in parallel with the show.
According to Messe Berlin’s division head Martin Buck, the big names of China’s travel industry such as Ctrip, Alitrip, Tuniu, Utour and Caissa have committed to sending buyers to ITB China next year.
“We will be able to guarantee our international exhibitors around 500 buyers from leading companies representing the Chinese travel industry,” said Buck.
ITB China will be pitting itself against existing travel tradeshows such as the World Travel Fair in Shanghai, China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM) in Beijing and China International Travel Mart, which is a national show rotated between Shanghai and Kunming.
Industry members interviewed said doing business in China was different and it would be interesting to see how successful ITB China would be in the years ahead.
“Although there is no guarantee, I believe ITB China can be successful because it has the expertise, financial wherewithals and reputation. Asians still go for ‘Western’ brand names and ‘ITB’ is one such brand.
“For many sellers not just in Asia but worldwide, there is no way of getting through to the Chinese agency community. This gives them the chance to. And if the sellers are there, the buyers will come,” said Ken Chang, vice president, Associated Tours Hong Kong.
But Chang doubted if Hong Kong sellers would join ITB China as many of them already understood the market well.
He expects ITB China to be bigger than ITB Asia in Singapore, now into its ninth year, saying that ASEAN outbound combined was the equivalent of just one province in China.
Adam Wu, CEO of Beijing-based World Travel Online and CBN Travel & MICE, said there was still space for more tradeshows in China. “Eight out of 10 Chinese buyers probably don’t know ITB…ITB Berlin doesn’t (have many) Chinese buyers,” he said, adding if ITB China builds the show, the delegates would come.
But some industry members have reservations about tilting the balance towards China outbound. German tour operator Marco Polo Reisen, for instance, was experiencing difficulties in getting good rates and allotments in the Far East because of strong regional markets such as China, said managing director Holger Baldus.
CYTS International Travel, international department II deputy general manager, Zhou Zhanfeng, believed a major travel tradeshow specialising in the inbound market was needed to improve China’s image on the international world tourism stage.
“Inbound tourism to China has been dropping in recent years due to negative coverage of the country on issues like pollution and higher tour prices. An inbound show will help to overcome the negative coverage of China in the Western world.
“Most of the existing shows like COTTM already focus on China outbound tourism, we have no need for that. We’ve heard of so much news on Chinese tourists shopping and travelling overseas, so why not get international tourists to visit China, spend their money in the country and help the Chinese economy instead?”
Zhou also urged China National Tourism Administration to step up its destination marketing efforts as well as tackling barriers like visa for foreign visitors. “China has vast geography, attractions and human resources, so why aren’t we attracting more repeat visitors? Thailand, despite its smaller size, attracts about three to four times more tourists from Germany than China.”
He also said China outbound tourism was a “losing business” for outbound companies due to intense competition over prices.
Meanwhile, asked about any likely impact of ITB China on ITB Asia, Andrew Phua, director, Exhibitions & Conferences, Singapore Tourism Board, said: “ITB Asia has been the leading travel tradeshow in the region since its debut in Singapore in 2008. As an annual event anchored in Singapore, ITB Asia provides a conducive platform for international tourism businesses to explore new opportunities in the region.”
Additional reporting from Xinyi Liang-Pholsena
Read more stories from our ITB Berlin TTG Asia Show Daily here.
