Exhibitors and institutions from more than 80 countries and regions are here! ITB Shanghai International Travel Expo opens

Today, the three-day 2024ITB Shanghai International Tourism Trade Expo kicked off at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. More than 600 tourism organizations and companies from more than 80 countries and regions participated in the exhibition. As a B2B tourism trade exhibition with a high reputation in China's tourism market, this year's ITB exhibition has more than 1,000 selected buyers, a significant increase of 60% compared with 2023. At the same time, the exhibition added 13 new tourist destinations and many tourism companies participating in the exhibition for the first time, showing the huge potential and attraction of the Chinese tourism market.

There are many highlights at today's exhibition. 13 overseas destinations participating in the exhibition for the first time showed up with their respective pavilions, which was very eye-catching. These 13 overseas destinations include Almaty, Bahrain, Buenos Aires, Cuba, East Kazakhstan, Georgia, Hawaii, South Korea, Morocco, Peru, Romania, Sarawak and Uzbekistan, and they bring the latest local travel information, hoping to attract more Chinese tourists. Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Maldives, Malaysia and other countries that are very familiar to Chinese tourists have also come to ITB to attract customers. The negotiation areas at the booths of many countries and regions were full of buyers and sellers negotiating; one exhibitor was busy sorting out the WeChat accounts of several business partners he had just added while eating.

This exhibition brings together exhibitors from all over the world and in different categories, including tourism companies and organizations from Asia and Oceania, Europe, China, the Middle East, America and Africa, among which exhibitors and organizations from Asia and Oceania and Europe account for up to 50%. Exhibitor categories cover the entire tourism supply chain, including tour operators/travel agencies, accommodation, national and regional tourism promotion agencies, local activities and attractions, transportation and tourism technology, etc. Ctrip, Tongcheng Travel, Jinjiang International Group, Expedia Group, etc. all set up large booths on site, demonstrating the confidence of large tourism companies in the Chinese tourism market.

This year's ITBChina also launched "China Inbound Tourism" for the first time, inviting international buyers from major source markets to China to participate in the conference and connect with inbound tourism resources and products from various parts of China. The signing ceremony of the memorandum of cooperation between the German Tourism Association and ITBChina will be held on May 28, demonstrating the mutual commitment of both parties to promoting the development of China's inbound tourism market. The "China Tourism Destinations Overseas Marketing Seminar" will also be held on the same day, highlighting the modern infrastructure and scenic spots of domestic destinations through brand promotion activities, and promoting discussions on China's inbound tourism.

The reporter also learned from the exhibition site that the domestic and foreign tourism markets have continued to gain momentum this year and are getting better. People are increasingly paying attention to outbound travel safety issues, which has also brought new development opportunities for travel insurance.

Driven by the visa-free policy, the popularity of Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand in outbound short-term travel continues to increase, and destinations within the "10-hour flight circle" such as Dubai are very popular. The upcoming European Cup, Olympic Games and other events will also make resources such as ground tour guides, tourist vehicles, hotel accommodations and ticket bookings more scarce in Europe, especially in France. The popularity of outbound travel has driven the sales of travel insurance. Not only is insurance certificate required when applying for a visa, travel insurance has also become a must-have for traveling around the world.

At the exhibition, Zhou Liancheng, executive vice president, chief channel management and sales officer of AXA Tianping Property Insurance Co., Ltd., said in an interview that the insurance awareness of Chinese tourists has increased significantly in recent years, and they almost all purchase corresponding insurance before long-distance travel. It has brought about an increase in travel accident insurance premium income.

Nowadays, Chinese travelers have traveled all over the world, including many inaccessible niche destinations, and travel accidents often occur. Zhou Liancheng believes that under such a trend, purchasing travel accident insurance is not only a kind of protection, but also corresponds to a series of solutions. Good travel insurance can not only ensure that travelers receive timely medical assistance and luggage protection when encountering unexpected situations, but also provide protection for emergency evacuation, accidental death and disability. At the same time, services such as game accident protection and visa protection are also continuously innovated and launched in line with market demand, which will be able to meet the needs of more tourists. In the future, AXA will further provide high-quality services in multiple scenarios, global emergency assistance and rapid claims settlement to ensure Chinese people travel without worries.

It is also understood that at this year’s ITB exhibition, the ITBChina Forum, which provides valuable insights into the Chinese and global tourism markets, will be held as scheduled. About 100 speakers will deliver speeches on 50 widely discussed topics to communicate and discuss industry trends. The speakers came from the Maldives, the official destination partner of the exhibition, Ctrip Group, China Travel Service Co., Ltd., Huawei, China Travel Agents Association, International Incentive Travel Elite Association, European Travel Council and other institutions.