ACC Participated in 2017 China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition

On 11 October 2017, the 2017 China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition (CAEXPOTE) was held in Guilin International Convention and Exhibition Center. Hosted by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Automous Region of China, this year’s CAEXPOTE was themed “Creating a new chapter in tourism cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative”. Indonesia was the Guest Country of CAEXPOTE. Mr. Du Jiang, Deputy Director-General  of CNTA, attended the opening ceremony and announced its opening. Mr. Zhang Xiaoqin, Vice Governor of the People's Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Mr. Zhao Leqin, Party Secretary of CPC  Municipal Committee of Guilin, Mr. Matthew Favila, Executive Director of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Dr. Mario Hardy, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Mr. I Gde Pitana, Vice Minister of Tourism of Republic of Indonesia (MTRI), and Mr. Ounethouang Khaophanh, Vice Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism (MICT) of Lao PDR, attended the opening ceremony. 

Mr. Zhang Xiaoqin said in his remarks that with the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative in recent years, and based on China-ASEAN Expo and other platforms and mechanisms, the international cooperation of Guangxi tourism is flourishing. Half of the top 10 inbound tourist sources of Guangxi are ASEAN countries, and every one of four international overnight visitors to Guangxi comes from ASEAN countries. He hoped that Guangxi and ASEAN could further build CAEXPOTE into  an important platform to promote regional tourism exchanges, thus to raise China-ASEAN tourism cooperation and regional integration development to a new level. Mr. I Gde Pitana said in his remarks that China has been one of the main outbound tourists markets in the world, and ranked the first in international tourist arrivals to Indonesia in 2016. With the further strengthening of bilateral air transport capacity, mutual visits are more convenient. He hoped that the tourism exchanges and cooperation between the two sides could achieve better development. 

Ms. Kong Roatlomang, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division, and Mr. Chen Kesong, Tourism Officer of ACC, attended the opening ceremony and exchanged views with other participants. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and the ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation, ACC set up a booth named “Travel to ASEAN” and distributed ASEAN tourism kits and promotional materials as well as provided the relevant information about ACC to the general public to promote the awareness and raise the profile of ASEAN tourism sector. In addition, Director Kong Roatlomang met with Mr. Liang Zhiyong, Director of Guilin Convention & Exhibition Bureau, during the exhibition and exchanged views on further deepening cooperation, better playing the role of CAEXPOTE, and jointly building China-ASEAN tourism brand. 

2017 CAEXPOTE lasted 3 days with total booth area of 25,000 square meters, attracting exhibitors from 62 countries and regions, and 17 provinces and autonomous regions in China. All ASEAN countries actively participated in the exhibition, with 109 exhibitors, covering 1,774 square meters accounting for 30% of the total area of the foreign exhibitors’ area and 64% of the total number of special set-up. During the exhibition, there were a series of tourism promotions, discussions and economic activities, such as travel conference, refined exhibition, investment fair, recreational vehicle camping forum and tourism industries’ exchanges.