The China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2018 was grandly opened on 16 November 2018 in Shanghai, which was organized by Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) of China, Civil Aviation Administration of China and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government. Around 200 participants from local and foreign governments, tourism departments, international organizations, tourism stakeholders and media were present at the event. Ms. Kong Roatlomang, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), attended the opening ceremony upon invitation and exchanged views with the guests.
Mr. Yu Qun, member of the leadership of MCT of China, Mr. Chen Qun, Vice Mayor of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Ms. Anna Athanasopoulou, Head of Tourism, Emerging and Creative Industries of European Commission delivered remarks at the opening ceremony respectively. They highlighted that the CITM has an expanding scale and constantly improving level of specialization and internationalization. It has become an important platform for deepening international tourism cooperation and promoting China's entry into the world. It also provides an important opportunity to promote the development of tourism industry with high quality. Tourism plays an important role in spreading civilization, exchanging culture and enhancing friendship. They wished CITM 2018 a big success and hoped it would constantly promote international exchanges and cooperation in culture and tourism areas.
During the CITM, ACC also set up a joint booth with the ASEAN Secretariat to further promote the ASEAN tourism resources. ACC booth showcased the photo of ASEAN tourism destinations, distributed the ASEAN tourism brochures, brief introduction of ACC and other publicity materials of ACC, which attracted hundreds of people each day.
Held from 16 to18 November, the 20th session of CITM 2018 has attracted 2245 booths, with 1542 domestic exhibitors and 703 overseas exhibitors from 107 countries and regions. About 573 overseas buyers from Europe, the US and Southeast Asia were invited to meet up with more than 1000 sellers.