Interest in the second ITB China, taking place from May 16-18, 2018 in Shanghai, is again very high. ITB China focusses exclusively on professional Chinese travel buyers. Leading Chinese travel industry companies including Caissa, Fliggy, Tuniu, Utour Travel and many others have already confirmed they will be sending their buyers to the second edition of ITB China in May 2018. Exhibitors are also pressing ahead with preparations. Early committed exhibitors who register before the deadline of October 30 will still benefit from an early bird discount of five per cent on their stand rental fees.
David Axiotis, General Manager ITB China: “ITB China not only brings top Chinese travel buyers together with world-class tourism suppliers, but also with innovative technological applications. In 2018 we are increasing our buyers program by inviting some 850 buyers whereas our focus is making sure that the quality and quantity of buyers meets demanding exhibitor needs. All potential buyers will undergo an assessment process and will be evaluated based on their experience and quality to ensure that the quality of attendees remains at the highest possible level.”
Ms. Yan Lin, the Senior Vice President of Utour Travel, one of the top leading companies in China’s tourism industry, said: "We attended the first ITB China this May and really gained enormous benefits! The quality of exhibitors and buyers was as good as its mother show ITB Berlin in Germany. Everyone onsite dealt very professionally with their appointments. Next year we will enhance our support of the ITB China Buyers Program, and will not only send our own top decision makers, but also invite our numerous outbound business partners to visit the show as well. I am confident that ITB China will be even more successful next year!”
China’s leading online outbound travel platform – Fliggy, the travel brand of Alibaba Group, will unite its outbound travel agency merchants all over the country as a buyer group to visit ITB China 2018. Mr. Lowden Xiao, vice president of Fliggy, highlights: “We sincerely do welcome that ITB China has finally arrived in China. Building on the reputation and energy of ITB, ITB China is building a high quality platform between Chinese travel practitioners and global tourism resources, which has benefited every participant.
As the leader of China's outbound travel platform, Fliggy is keenly looking forward to cooperating with ITB China, to satisfy the steadily increasing global travel requirements of the Chinese people in a spirit of professional innovation.”
Some 850 buyers will be invited to attend ITB China next year. This includes 600 top performers from last year and hundreds of new ones, whereas over 250 will represent China’s largest travel agencies. Hosted buyers represent the Chinese Leisure, MICE and Corporate travel markets: 97 per cent of the hosted buyers come from Mainland China and three per cent are from Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan. ITB China has been designed as a pure B2B-platform professionally matchmaking exhibitors from all over the world with Chinese buyers. More than 17,500 prescheduled appointments will maximise the business opportunities of both the exhibitors and the buyers.
At the inaugural ITB China 2017 some 600 exhibiting companies from nearly 70 countries and regions met with a total of over 10,000 attendees and buyers in the 12,000 sqm area of exhibition space, which had been booked up months in advance.
ITB China 2018 will take place from 16 to 18 May 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. Its co-organiser is TravelDaily China, a leading online news portal and organiser of travel industry conferences in Asia’s largest country.
