Travel, Tourism & Hospitality

ITB China Conference 2024 to spotlight industry hotspots

ITB China Conference 2024, organised by ITB in partnership with TravelDaily, the leading conference organiser for the Chinese travel industry, will shine the spotlight on industry hotspots within the country’s travel landscape, from May 27-29 at Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.

The three-day B2B event will feature a variety of topics and forums that are aimed at providing valuable insights to businesses operating in this space.

Conference themes encompassing "China Outbound Travel”, "MICE”, “Business Travel", "Travel Technology", and new this year, “China Inbound Travel”, will be presented and discussed through numerous keynote speeches, industry dialogues, executive interviews, and panel discussions at this year’s ITB China Conference.

With two distinct stages, the "Conference Room" and the "Presentation Hub", attendees can anticipate insights and experience sharing from key travel professionals and experts from around the globe and across China.

Highlights of the conference also include insights into China outbound travel data provided by Trip.com, as well as discussions on “Boosting outbound travel through industry up- and downstream collaboration”, “Exchanges on leveraging new media to attract young travellers” and an exploration into “Adventure travel and sustainable development”.

Discussion of topics such as "How can new technologies enhance personalised travel experiences?" and "How online payments help travel platforms boost order conversions?" will provide a deeper understanding of how technology facilitates seamless booking processes; provide interactive experiences, enables real-time information access, and supports sustainable practices.

Strong partnerships with prominent organisations including the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE), the China Business Event Industry Committee (CBEIC), and the Purchasing and Supply Chain Coalition, will enrich sessions on ‘Business Travel’ and ‘MICE’.

Together with CBEIC, a panel discussion will delve into the overseas expansion strategy and development of Chinese associations from a global perspective.

Purchasing and Supply Chain Coalition will host a session on the topic: "Enterprise Procurement Strategies for Corporate Travel, Conferences, and Incentive Travel", while SITE will facilitate a roundtable discussing on the current status and future development of the global and Asian MICE tourism industry.

Nitin Sachdeva, President-elect of SITE Global, stated: “The global MICE industry has experienced rapid development and transformation, with a continuously expanding market size, but faced also many challenges.

“We now look forward to persistent innovation in the industry, improving service quality, and achieving sustainable development in the future. At the same time, we are excited about the deep cooperation with ITB China to jointly promote the progress and prosperity of the global MICE industry."

For the very first time, the conference program features sessions on "China Inbound Travel", addressing recent visa policy changes and their impact on the inbound travel recovery.

Dave Goodger, Managing Director EMEA, of Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company, will kick-off with a keynote under the heading “Opportunities for Chinese Inbound Growth to Keep Pace with Outbound and Domestic”.

The keynote will cover the resurgence of tourism in post-pandemic China, covering inbound growth, international projections, key markets and risks, and provide an outlook on domestic and outbound tourism, including key city destinations.

Trade visitor and media registration for ITB China 2024 are now open. – TradeArabia News Service