REPORT / CIBTM
Left: China National Convention Centre, the venue for CIBTM 2011
Right: The Great Wall of China, which is a major draw for domestic and international visitors alike
Below right: Registration queues for CIBTM 2011
“I have spoken to the main travel
groups in China and their MICE arrivals are growing very fast, so every year they double the number. For example, CTS’ MICE revenue last year was around RMB1billion (US$157 million), CYTS was around RMB700 million (US$110 million), and CITS was around RMB 500 million (US$78.5 million).” Japan was the destination most buy-
Beijing has the most star-rated hotel rooms of any city in the world, with 778 star-rated hotels and more than 223,000 beds
Other notable stands internationally were New Zealand,
Malaysia, Meet Taiwan, Philippines, Ireland (highlighting the absence of the UK), Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Thailand. The importance of the domestic market was reflected on
the show floor with 60 percent of CIBTM standholders com- ing from mainland China and 40 percent international. I tried to quantify the domestic and international visitor
market more accurately when I meet Sun Weijia, vice chairman of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Tourism Develop- ment. He shocked me with the numbers, explaining that Beijing welcomed 180 million visitors in 2010 and 4.9 million interna- tional visitors. That’s almost up 14 percent of China’s entire population that came to the city last year and easily makes it the world’s leading tourism destination in terms of total volume. It is easy to wonder why they bother with the international
market at all with the domestic market being so overwhelm- ing and growing year-on-year. Weijia commented that Beijing also has the most star-
rated hotel rooms of any city in the world. To accommodate 185 million, I didn’t doubt it. He explained that there are 778 star-rated hotels in the 3, 4 and 5-star rated categories with more than 223,000 beds. I asked about occupancy and he explained that it is 40-50
percent across the board on an annual basis, or around 60 per- cent for the five-star hotels. Of the international arrivals, USA is the leading source market followed by Japan, South Korea and Europe, with Germany and France contributing most visitors. Concrete statistics for the value of the meetings industry
are always hard to come by, especially so in China, but Weijia was able to provide some indication:
22 /
180 million the number of domestic visitors to Beijing in 2010
ers are interested in for the next 12 months and they were represented at CIBTM with a strong delegation including Mak- ito Takami, Director for MICE Promotion Japan, who conducted a press conference to reassure the Chinese on the nation’s recovery post-earthquake and tsunami. After Japan, the field is led by Taiwan, Australia and North America attracting very similar interest. Of the top 13 international markets
that Chinese buyers were interested in, nine were represented at CIBTM (France, UK, Germany and the Carib- bean didn’t attend); while for the out- bound Asian market, four out of the top seven markets are represented (India, the Maldives and Nepal didn’t attend). For the domestic market, Beijing and
Shanghai were out in force but there was a notable absence of Hong Kong as the third most popular domestic destination, along with some other major Chinese cities. Craig Moyes Group Exhibition Director for Reed Travel Exhibitions (the organiser) commented on this: “There is a lot of rivalry between the cities in China, but this year we received the backing of the China National Tourism Admin- istration for the very first time. We are the only show to have this and in a very hierarchical society, political backing is essential. It has already helped us to get more domestic cities into CIBTM and will also assist us in the future.” The show was 22 percent bigger
this year in terms of space taken, with exhibitor numbers up 28 percent. In fact,
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