The South Pacific was promoted to the travel industry of Southern China in a series of industry seminars and a South Pacific presence at the China International Travel Mart (CITM).
PT&I’s China office based in Beijing partnered with the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) to bring a delegation of South Pacific tourism promotion organisations and businesses to Southern China to meet Chinese outbound business partners last week.
The seminars in the key Southern China markets of Guangzhou and Chengdu were attended by record numbers of Chinese travel agents keen to learn about the beautiful environment, sights and experiences to be had across the South Pacific.
The delegation included representatives from Fiji, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Samoa as well as French Polynesia.
Chinese outbound operators were encouraged to sign up for the South Pacific Travel Trade Specialist Training Program.
PT&I Trade Commissioner in China David Morris said the office had taken the innovative step of targeting the Chinese online tourism market with a Chinese language version of the Tourism Roadshow on the web based app platform WeChat.
The platform created in China works similarly to Facebook connecting over half a billion users via mobile txt and voice messaging communications services. WeChat has over 600 million active users with at least 70 million outside of China. The app provides a wide range of services from txt, broadcast, video conferencing, games and photo and sharing.
PT&I China office stepped up its promotional campaign in October with the start of the PT&I Southern China Trade Mission. It was a hugely successful initiative that opened the eyes of Pacific exporters to the opportunities available in such a vast business landscape in China.
The mission led into one of China’s largest business regions drawing positive responses and interest from local business and government.