Petra Hedorfer, president of the European Travel Commission, announced the launch of Travel Destination Europe and the visiteurope.com portal at the inauguration ceremony in Beijing December 1st, 2011. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn/Huang Shuo]

Tourism industry leaders from Europe and China gathered in Beijing, the capital of China, for the launch of Travel Destination Europe and the unveiling of the new visiteurope.com web portal earlier this month.

"We are incredibly excited about the huge potential for growth in the number of Chinese visitors to Europe, so much so that we have made the decision to focus on China as our most important market in our new ETC strategy," said Petra Hedorfer, president of the European Travel Commission (ETC). "With the launch of our new Chinese web portal, visiteurope.com, we declare our common initiative to focus on the Chinese market promoting Travel Destination Europe and inviting the people of China to come and discover the wealth of culture and diversity that our beautiful continent has to offer."

This launch marks the first step in the recently strengthened cooperation between ETC and the European Commission to promote Europe as a travel destination in long-haul emerging markets and the recognition of China as one of the most important opportunities for outbound travel to Europe in coming years.

Hedorfer, joined by Pedro Ortún, director for Tourism, CSR, Consumer Goods and International Regulatory Agreements at the European Commission (EC), announced the launch of Travel Destination Europe and the visiteurope.com portal in China at the inauguration ceremony.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by China's travel industry, including leading airlines, tour operators, and suppliers alongside Europe's national tourism organizations and visiting delegations from ETC and EC in Brussels.

Introducing recent initiatives from the European Commission, Ortún said, "Our common efforts with ETC seize the opportunities of the Chinese market potential and reflect the European Commission's strong commitment to supporting the European tourism industry by promoting Europe as the world's most sustainable, responsible and high quality set of destinations."