Written by Li Min / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

CAEXPO Advancing ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation

Written by Li Min / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

The China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation Forum held in 2009

Since 1980s, tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China has achieved remarkable progress: The number of flights between ASEAN countries and China has exceeded 2,700 per week; over 30 million people have engaged in ASEAN-China tourism exchanges; and the annual number of tourists travelling back and forth between ASEAN and China has increased by six times, compared with over a decade ago.

The ASEAN-China Year of Tourism Cooperation was inaugurated in Manila, the Philippines in March 2017,followed by many theme events, including Mekong Tourism Forum and CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition (CTE), which are aimed at enhancing bilateral exchanges and cooperation in tourism, boosting people-to-people connectivity between the two sides and contributing to the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road construction.

In China’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) more than 600 years ago, Zheng He, a great Chinese navigator, once led his vessels to travel through places in Southeast Asian countries,bringing business opportunities to local people at that time;now, ASEAN’s tourist destinations are highly favored by Chinese tourists. CAEXPO, an important platform for ASEANChina cooperation in various fields, will help strengthen tourism links between the two sides, by virtue of City of Charm(CoC) mechanism and CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition.

An increasingly close friendship through exchange visits

“Tourism, viewed as a bridge for civilization dissemination,cultural exchanges and friendship enhancement, is the most direct and natural way of communication between people,”said Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre Mme. Yang Xiuping, “Tourism cooperation has always been regarded as one of the highlights of ASEAN-China relations. Tourism exerts a powerful influence on the economic and social development of ASEAN and China and on the promotion of bilateral people-to-people connectivity, consolidating the public support and social foundation for bilateral ties.”

“You’d better go to the Philippines yourself, and then you willfind that Filipino people are quite honest and friendly,”Ms. Xiao writes in her travel note after returning home from the Philippines in 2016. As of now, it is estimated that China has become the largest tourist source country of Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, the second largest of Singapore, and the third largest of Malaysia.

In the meantime, China has also attracted the attention of more and more ASEAN tourists. Now, there are six ASEAN countries among the top 15 tourist source countries of China, according to the statistics. In 2016,Vietnamese tourists travelling to China amounted to over one million, and so did Malaysia and the Philippines. In Guangxi, which is adjacent to ASEAN, the annual number of inbound tourists exceeds three million, with ASEAN tourists accounting for nearly half of the total.

Driven by the flourishing of tourism exchanges, more substantial progress has been made in the ASEAN-China cooperation in various fi elds.

As the number of tourists involved in ASEAN-China tourism exchanges continues to increase, bilateral tourism cooperation has been elevated to a higher level, apart from generating considerable tourist revenues, comprehensively accelerating the construction of tourism infrastructure and stimulating mutual investment.

CoC: A platform for demonstrating a city’s enchantment

Since the CoC exhibition, one of the five themes of CAEXPO, was firstly launched at the 2ndCEXPO, more than 100 provinces and cities of ASEAN and China have been presented to the target audiences. In the pavilions of CoC, we can see exquisite decorations and layouts,distinctive national customs performances, abundant images and photos, as well as featured products. Visiting the pavilions has made quite a few Chinese tourists yearn for a travel to ASEAN.

At present, CoC has directly impacted not only the exchanges and cooperation between ASEAN-China cities but also the improvement of the charming cities’international fame and competitiveness. By virtue of CoC, charming cities — introduced by ASEAN such as Malaysia’ Malacca, Cambodia’s Pagan, the Philippines’s Cebu, and Vietnam’s Hoian — have become the new tourist destinations favored by more Chinese tourists.

For China’s part, for example, to respond to the theme of the 11thCAEXPO — jointly building the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road, Ningxia was identified as China’s charming city because of its role as a significant passageway along the ancient Silk Road. At that time,Ningxia displayed its achievements of economy, trade and tourism, as well as Muslim culture embracing multiple business opportunities, and its extraordinary scenery and characteristic ethnic culture were acclaimed by the attending Muslim travelling traders from Malaysia.

CTE: To provide more professional services for tourism cooperation

Since 2015, CTE has been held annually in Guilin,Guangxi, China, providing a more professional and pragmatic platform for tourism resources promotion,tourism project investment, as well as cooperative mechanism improvement between ASEAN and China.

The 1stCTE was reportedly composed of four themes:tourism image, tourist consumption, travel technologies and tourist commodities. It is worth noting that all kinds of discounted tourist products inspired the public to experience a trip without any plans. In addition to services involving tourists, tourism industry also provides the services of catering, accommodation, traffic, insurance and project development. To make the exhibition more professional, CAEXPO has taken concrete measures to attract a larger number of high-grade exhibitors and professional buyers.

According to the statistics, there were 800 high-grade exhibitors, over 6,000 professionals and over 300 executives of inbound & outbound travel agencies present at the 2ndCTE in 2016. Mr. Shi Xi, Deputy Secretary-General of the People’s Government of Guilin, indicated that the exhibitors and buyers planned for their exhibiting schedule through the appointment and negotiation services before the exhibition; and 420 enterprise representatives participated in the business negotiations held during the exhibition, generating tangible benefits. Besides, the of fi cers-in-charge of ASEAN-China tourism organizations were invited to attend The Meeting of ASEAN-China Tourism Organizations, with a view to facilitating the establishment of ASEAN-China tourism exchange mechanism. Furthermore, 210 journalists with 48 media organizations covered or conducted a live broadcast of the exhibition.

To strengthen non-governmental exchanges and tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China, other relevant events, such as Nanning International Folk Song Arts Festival and China-ASEAN International Touring Assembly, were also held annually over the past 13 years.