Written by Tang Qi/Translated by Chen Zhiying

The unexpected pandemic pushes the pause button for most people’s travel plans.Though the quotes go “Grab your backpack and go traveling”,“It’s a huge world that I’d like to see”,and “I dream about my footprints around the world”,the only option for people is to stay home.

Nonetheless,who said that traveling has to need your presence? The China-ASEAN EXPO Tourism Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as Tourism Exhibition) which has been held for seven times shows you that you can travel around the world without setting your foot outdoors in one day.Every time,the Tourism Exhibition has attracted countless visitors with its rich contents.The Exhibition shows the different charm and cultures of China,ASEAN countries and even the world.In 2022,the CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition will be held from September 19 to 21 at Guilin International Conference &Exhibition Center,so why not come and realize your dream of traveling at this Exhibition?

In a glance,you see the splendors

The first splendor is Guilin.The world knows about its beautiful landscape,but Guilin also has its charm from its profound history and culture.Since 2015,Guilin has been appointed as the permanent venue of the Tourism Exhibition.With the powerful magnetism of this world-known tourist destination,every Tourism Exhibition was proved a carnival of tourism.

With such a unique advantage,the Exhibition in 2016 decided to open simultaneously with other two renowned events in Guilin,namely the UNW TO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook and the Guilin International Landscape Culture & Tourism Festival.Being complementary to one and another,each of the three events has its unique characteristics,which fully shows Guilin’s featured tourism and culture and raises its city image and status as a tourist city.

The second splendor is the Exhibition itself.In the past exhibitions,visitors who came here to “explore the world” were surprised by the various sections,dazzling exhibits,and well-decorated galleries.

The International Tourism Section is the most anticipated one.People always swarm to this section on the opening days every year.The section not only offers the breathtaking special booths of ten ASEAN countries but also showcases the beauty of over 40 countries along the Maritime Silk Road as well as Japan,South Korea,and the Euro-American countries.The scenery,culture,and crafts are gathered here with their respective essence.Such quality has also brought the Exhibition the honor of one of China’s Top 10 Exhibition Brands.

The Exhibition is also a scene of Chinese domestic tourism,through which the participants can feel the tourism resource diversit y of Chinese provinces and municipalities.For example,at the 2021 Exhibition,the China Tourism Section had an exhibition area of 2,371 square meters,becoming the catalog that introduces the tourist landscape and places of interest across China.Souvenirs with diverse characteristics and performances with ethnic cultures were also brought to the Section,catching the eyes of the visitors for a long time.

In addition,the variety of exhibitors also resulted in the diversity in booths and products.At the Tourism Exhibition last year,seven major exhibition sections,such as the Belt and Road Theme Section,Tourism Industry Equipment Section,and Tourism Consumption Section,were unveiled,covering contents like traveling destination images,smart traveling,museology,and cultural & creative products.The area of the seven major sections was 15,624 square meters,with a total of 1,736 booths.

The third splendor is the economic and trade cooperation.At the 2019 Tourism Exhibition,the professional fair held on the first day promoted over 3,000 negotiations,effectively facilitating the exchange and cooperation between companies.Moreover,different parties also utilized this platform to deepen tourism cooperation and expand mutual investment,further boosting the economy,trade,and people-to-people exchange in tourism between China and ASEAN.

However,all these three splendors are only a miniature of the Exhibition.To boost China-ASEAN people-to-people exchange and economic cooperation,the Exhibition is still striving.

Under scrutiny,you find highlights

Looking back at the past tourism exhibitions,there were also highlights aside from the splendors.On one hand,the Exhibition made breakthroughs in integrating culture and tourism to keep deepening and extending the definition of tourism.On the other hand,a series of events were set,receiving compliments from the public.

The first highlight is the Country of Honor.As an important platform for China-ASEAN tourism cooperation,the Exhibition will determine an ASEAN country to be the Country of Honor.Since 2015,this practice has been kept working from Brunei at the first Exhibition to Vietnam this time,allowing them to show their brilliance a lot.

Whether it is the Apsara dance performed by Cambodia at the promotion meeting,or the mask dance,chorus,and drum dance performed by Indonesian exchange students in China,the presence of the Country of Honor provided the Exhibition with more highlights and fun.At the 2021 Tourism Exhibition,Thailand brought their projects and products with Thai flavors,and held a series of exchange activities featuring Thai culture such as Thai massage,which made it a hot spot among the visitors.

The second highlight is the Themed Province.Since 2020,the Exhibition will set a Themed Province every year to allow Chinese tourism resources to be seen at a larger stage.This year’s Themed Province Gansu will try to increase the digitalization and high-tech usage in the Exhibition to fully demonstrate Gansu’s culture-tourism integration.By that time,the province will also improve its international reputation and revitalize its inbound tourism market through events like special cultural tourism promotion fairs and cultural and creative tourism products exhibitions.

The third highlight is the Tourism Summit.Each year,the Exhibition holds a relevant summit to allow all parties to share their experience and knowledge.For example,as a professional forum conducted by the Tourism Exhibition,the Forum on Technology and Innovation to Facilitate Sustainable Tourism Development raised new ideas and pointed out a new direction for the topic.

These three highlights can’t conclude the achievements of the Exhibition.There are also “Public Participation,Public Photography” Photo Contest,curious digital interactive games,and delicious food from all over the world.According to the Secretariat of China-ASEAN Tourism Exhibition,they will keep innovating the Exhibition,to bring quality new contents to the visitors.

Ahead,there go opportunities

The views behind are already cheering.How about the future?

The 2022 Tourism Exhibition will be held on September 19-21 at Guilin International Conference & the Exhibition Center.To continue the splendors,this year’s Exhibition,based on its previous experience,will seize the opportunities of the times and keep promoting regional tourism,economic,and trade cooperation.

Primarily,the Exhibition will seize the opportunities of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)and the construction of a Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area.According to the organizing committee,this year’s Exhibition is themed “Share New Opportunities of RCEP,Jointly Build a New Pattern of Culture & Tourism Development”,aiming to promote its service from China-ASEAN “10+1” tourism cooperation to RCEP “10+5”tourism cooperation.

The Exhibition will continue to adopt the online + onsite exhibition model.Near 50 countries and regions outside China,more than 20 provinces/autonomous regions/municipalities as well as over 300 institutions and companies related to cultural tourism are expected to be invited as exhibitors.In addition,the organizing committee will invite about 250 domestic travel agents to participate in a one-to-one promotion fair during the Exhibition,boosting the cooperation in trade to a new level.

Meanwhile,the Exhibition will seize the opportunity in the post pandemic era,showing the condition of the nine major cultural tourism industries,such as cultural tourism image,smart tourism,climate tourism,cultural heritage tourism,cultural tourism consumption,cultural tourism products,health and leisure tourism,camping equipment,and museology and cultural & creative products,in order to bring new momentum for post-pandemic tourism.

There will also be over ten events under the theme,such as the Night of Guilin Cultural Tourism Promotion,the opening ceremony,and exhibition touring,etc.It could be expected that the 2022 China-ASEAN Tourism Exhibition will be an event of win-win international tourism cooperation.Either you want a feast for the eyes,a clash of minds,or a part of the cooperation,you can get it here.