Chengdu Report: New tourism vistas with visa-free policy

Chengdu's 72-hour visa-free policy will not only give a boost to the tourism economy, but also bring more opportunities to the exhibition industry in the southwestern metropolis, said a senior local official.

"It will be important in Chengdu's bid to develop more globally famous and professional exhibitions in the future," said Wang Xin, deputy director of Chengdu Bureau of Expositions.

"It will help the historical city enhance the level of internationalization, benefit foreigners who frequently participate in multinational business activities and of course facilitate trips by overseas exhibitors," he said.

The policy, which took effect last September, allows citizens from 51 countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas and Oceania to spend three days in Chengdu if they have valid visas and onward flight tickets.

The capital of Sichuan province is the first city in the western region of China to offer foreign tourists a three-day visa and the fourth nationwide to adopt the policy following Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Wang told China Daily that Herbert Marner, chief financial officer of Germany's Koelnmesse Co, enjoyed the 72-hour policy last month.

Chengdu hosted an international hardware show in April that was jointly organized by Koelnmesse and China National Hardware Association.

"Marner planned to go to Singapore for a conference, but he also wanted to have a look at the opening ceremony of the show," Wang said. "Marner did not have a visa for China at that time, so he would not have been able to show up without the policy."

Marner stayed for a day in Chengdu and then followed his original plan to Singapore.

"We will consider it an important highlight to attract overseas investments and search for partners," Wang said.

This year, the bureau plans to establish cooperative relationships with the UK's Montgomery Co, China (Shanghai) International Exhibitions and UBM Asia

In 2013, Chengdu held 503 major events including 105 international conventions and 53 international exhibitions.

Together they generated direct income of some 6 billion yuan ($964 million), up 20 percent over the 2012.

Statistics from the bureau show that at least 450 large events will be staged in the city this year that will generate 6.5 billion yuan in direct income and indirect revenue of 54 billion yuan.

In addition, Chengdu Culture & Tourism Development Group recently had a series of networking activities to publicize the policy worldwide, especially in European countries that have direct flights to Chengdu.

The company set up a Chengdu page with the theme "72 Challenge - Come to Chengdu" on Tripadvisor, the world's largest website providing tourism reviews and advice.

It also advertised on international Web portals Google, YouTube and Facebook.

"We also shot three interesting and creative documentaries to build the brand and uploaded them on YouTube," said a spokesman of the company.

The first video covering the basic information and tips about the policy alone has had more than 100,000 hits from the European and US users.

The second video called "Challenge Chengdu" shows expats invited to iconic local attractions such as giant pandas, mahjong, spicy hotpot and the skills of changing faces in Sichuan opera.

The third video called "Amazing Chengdu" provides several travel plans and advice for tourists enjoying the 72-hour policy.

The company also invited tourism industry opinion leaders from YouTube to experience the policy and have a three-day travel in the city.

haonan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/23/2014 page23)