Competitive advantages to be had from understanding the Chinese market: leading travel organisations and tourism officials active in the Chinese market will be congregating this year for the first ITB China, to be held from 10 to 12 May at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Conference Center. The ITB China Conference will form a key element of the new B2B trade show. Co-hosted by TravelDaily, the 3-day event will dispense a wealth of up-to-date information relating to three distinct areas: ‘Destination’, ‘Online Travel & Travel Tech’ and ‘Corporate Travel & MICE’. Admission to the ITB China Conference is free of charge.

The keynote speech at the first-ever ITB China Conference will be given on 10 May 2017 by Ms. Jane Jie Sun, CEO Ctrip will have a CEO Talk with Mr. Philip Wolf, Founder of PhocusWright on how Ctrip will turn to globalization as a core strategy in the next few years. Ctrip was founded in 1999 and is now dominating the domestic tourism market as one of the biggest online travel agencies in China. Leading figures in the Chinese and international travel sector will then present papers on the theme of destinations. Speakers will include Mr. Rungang Zhang, Vice-President of the China Tourism Association, who will provide a glimpse into developments in China’s travel industry, currently in a state of upheaval. Eduardo Santander, Executive Director of the European Travel Commission, will look at ways in which the European travel industry might benefit from visits by Chinese abroad. Over ten million tourists from China visited Europe last year, with the figure set to rise by 9.3% per year until 2022. Appropriately, Europe is the official partner of this first ITB China trade show.

The second day of the ITB China Conference will be dedicated to online travel and travel technology. A panel discussion moderated by Joseph Wang, Chief Commercial Officer, TravelDaily featuring the panellists Steven Pang, Managing Director of Greater China Skyscanner, and Ning Ma, General Manager of Marketing Department, Yangtze River Airlines and Qianyuan Yin, General Manager, Zhejiang New Century Manju Hotel Management will look at how travel companies can cater to the increasingly diverse and personal needs of travellers. Cindy Tan, Vice President of Display, APAC, TripAdvisor will talk about the opportunities that growth brings in China’s Inbound and Outbound Travel mainly giving insights in the search trends and behaviors of global and Chinese travelers. They differently behave purchase their travels which leads to different types of content that drive business growth in China.

The third day is given over to Corporate Travel and MICE. Kejian Wu, Deputy General Manager CWT China, will speak on the business-travel challenges posed by China, a growing economic powerhouse. Professional travel services are in demand to meet the needs for compliance and cost savings. It has come to a point that international TMCs and China’s TMCs are competing against each other. A panel discussion on the transformation of the MICE Industry will be moderated by Lenny Jia, Founder & Chief Editor, China BT MICE. Speakers will include Crystal Zhang, President, UCC, Kitty Huang, Vice President – Customer Loyalty & Revenue Generation, Greater China, Wyndham Hotel Group, Dong Wei, COO, Shouqi Car Rental and  Lei Li, Founder, Youli Hotel GSA will share their thoughts on the dramatic transformation in the MICE sector as traditional MICE enterprises are shifting from “exhibition” to “integrated marketing”.

More details at itb-china.com

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ITB China announces their first partner airline: China Eastern and ITB China signed a corresponding partnership agreement on 10 February 2017. ITB China will take place from 10 to 12 May 2017 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Conference Center. The event, an international offshoot of one of Messe Berlin’s most successful trade fairs will take place annually and focus on the Chinese travel industry.

David Axiotis, General Manager ITB China: “China Eastern has once again underlined its constantly growing role in China’s aviation by serving round about 100 million passengers last year. With China Eastern Airlines ITB China has gained a very strong and valuable partner airline for its inaugural show and we are looking forward to a mutually beneficial partnership”.

Special discount for visiting ITB China

The three day B2B tradeshow and convention is designed to be the primary event for the Chinese travel industry and the event’s airline partner, China Eastern, is offering special fares for those flying to the exhibition. On the promotion page uk.ceair.com especially releases by China Eastern Airlines, trade visitors can exclusively book the best airfare price. More information on travelling to ITB China can be found under:www.itb-china.com/travel-info/

China Eastern Air Co. Ltd. is one of China’s top three airlines. One of the country’s first state-owned enterprises to offer shares on the New York Stock Exchange, China Eastern remains owned for the most part by Eastern Air Group Co., the government’s holding company. Since its inception in 1988, CEA has invested heavily to modernise its fleet and train its personnel to Western standards. Passenger traffic accounts for 80 percent of total revenues. The carrier operates 68 aircraft on 120 routes, from domestic flights to intercontinental voyages.

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ITB Asia, the leading travel trade show for the Asian market, opened its doors today at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.

There has been a significant interest in the MICE and Corporate travel products, with over 85 per cent of attending buyers leveraging on the business matching platform to source for new destinations and travel products, and gain new industry knowledge.

“As we are witnessing a rise in travel demand amongst Asian buyers, we are constantly working with our exhibitors and partners to create new frontiers and provide the best business platforms for them to connect with the key decision makers in the MICE, Corporate and Leisure travel industry. To ensure high quality of buyers at our show, more than 60 per cent of our confirmed buyers are recommended through our exhibitors and partners. We have secured over 15,000 matched appointments and we anticipate more during the event,” said Katrina Leung, Executive Director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), the organiser of ITB Asia.

ITB Asia is now in its ninth year and this edition is the biggest with strong contributions from Indonesia, Finland and Japan who have increased their exhibition space by more than 60 per cent. The biggest exhibitor is the Ministry of Tourism of The Republic of Indonesia with a record breaking booth space of 400sqm – the largest booth country representative in the history of ITB Asia in Singapore. It also welcomes newcomers including Panama and Taiwan.

The three-day event also kicked off successfully with Google and Booking.com sharing about the impact of digital disruption and trends driving customer experience in travel in their opening keynote address.

In addition, the event opened with a stimulating panel discussion by some of ITB Asia’s new partners such as CrescentRating and International SOS, who provided insights to the key corporate and consumer trends that are impacting the travel industry in Asia Pacific and how businesses can effectively engage with the different generation of travellers given the ever-changing travel landscape today.

Key highlights of this year’s show:

• For the first time ever, the keynote sessions will stretch across all three days
• This year, ITB Asia holds the most comprehensive conference line-up with over 5,440 conference minutes. This is 730 more minutes as compared to 2015.
• ITB Asia will be holding its inaugural MICE Day on 20 October 2016. The sessions held on the second day of the exhibition will cover a full spectrum of key issues faced by the MICE sector today.
• New partnerships with prominent industry heavyweights such as the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), Singapore Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (SACEOS) sealed, as well as a renewed agreement with the Incentive Conference & Event Society Asia Pacific (ICESAP).
• There is an increase in show presence from airlines with The Singapore Airlines being the official airline, along with other players such as Finnair, Air Berlin, Qatar Airways etc.

Some of the key conference speakers for this year also include:

o   Greg Schulze, Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy and Services, Expedia Group

o   Andrew Hughes, Vice President Sales, Marketing & Sourcing APMEA, GTA

o   Jenny Wu, Chief Strategy Officer, Ctrip.com International

For more information on ITB Asia 2016, visit www.itb-asia.com.

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ITB Asia 2016 will open its doors to usher in its biggest and best show to date, featuring industry movers and shakers including Google and Priceline Group who will helm the show’s opening keynote. For the first time ever, the keynote sessions will stretch across all three days, exploring pertinent topics such as the impact of mobile and digital disruption in the travel industry. 

In its ninth year, ‘Asia’s Leading Travel Trade Show’ will take place in Singapore from 19 – 21 October 2016 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands.

“We have seen strong attendance and received great feedback for our keynote sessions over the last few years. With this in mind, we have extended this year’s programme to cover all three days of the show, providing a platform for like-minded players to learn, network and discuss trends which are key in shaping the future of the travel industry. We are very honoured to have speakers of such high calibre grace our show and are confident that attendees will be able to leave with useful insights,” said Katrina Leung, Executive Director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), the organiser of ITB Asia.

Day 1

In a world where start-ups are seen as digital disruptors, industry heavyweights including Priceline Group’s Senior Vice President, Adrian Currie and Google’s Asia Pacific Head of Hotel and Airline Suppliers, Jenn Villalobos, will take centre stage to share more about the impact of digital disruption and trends driving customer experience in travel. Moderated by renowned BBC World News presenter Sharanjit Leyl, Villalobos will make a case for how hospitality incumbents can remain competitive, while Currie will touch on key trends shaping travellers’ digital experience and how travel organisations can adapt to leverage these trends.

Day 2

With OTA sales in the Asia Pacific region skyrocketing, we will see industry heavyweights like Expedia group, Agoda, Zuji and Ctrip provide in-depth insights into this burgeoning sector. ITB Asia’s first strategic partnership with MasterCard will bring together a thought leadership panel discussion, moderated by Alex Thanopoulos, Vice President MasterCard Enterprise Partnerships Asia Pacific. This panel will welcome the opinions of Greg Schulze, Senior Vice President, Commercial Strategy and Services, Expedia group, Timothy Hughes, Vice President Business Development from Agoda, Chua Hui Wan, CEO, Zuji Singapore and Jenny Wu, Chief Strategy Officer, Ctrip.com.

Day 3

The last keynote session will shine a spotlight on China, a high growth market that saw $11 billion spent in bookings through online travel agencies in 2015, a 70 percent increase from 2014. Shanghai Jin Jiang International E-Commerce Co., Ltd’s Vice President Joseph Xia, Yiqifei Travel’s Founder & CEO, Morton Huang, Dida Travel Technology’s CEO Rikin Wu and Tuniu Corporation’s CEO & Co-founder Dunde Yu will provide their perspectives into current Chinese market conditions and how to leverage opportunities in this growing market.

Last year, ITB Asia attracted close to 760 exhibitors from 73 countries, as well as 880 buyers and more than 10,300 attendees over three days.

You can find more details or sign up for ITB Asia here.

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