Ctrip, Chengdu warm up for tourism forum

Veteran foreign travelers to share city tours live online

Chinese e-tourism giant Ctrip.com recently launched a warmup event for the China Travelers' Forum, which will be held in Chengdu, the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, in March.

Ctrip, a major Chinese online travel agency, is inviting five veteran travelers from Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia - the top five sources of tourists for Chengdu - to visit the city on different routes.

They will be assigned various missions during their tours, including feeding the giant pandas and tasting the delicious cuisine of the city.

Their experiences in the three-day-and-two-night trips, named the Easy Trip Chengdu Challenge, will be broadcast live. Netizens can vote for the winner of the event, who will be awarded at the China Travelers' Forum.

Applicants can sign up for the event from Dec 2 to 20 by sending an e-mail to vot@ctrip.com with the title "Global Travelers - Chengdu Challenge" and upload a trip video to YouTube.

The link of the video and contact information, including e-mail and physical addresses and telephone number, should be included in the e-mail.

More than 300 applicants had signed up for the event by Dec 8.

This will be the first time that overseas travelers will be invited to take part in the China Travelers' Forum, which will enhance its influence as a well-known tourism festival with global outreach, according to Ctrip.

Tourism festival

The forum in March, which is created by Ctrip and co-hosted by the Chengdu Tourism Bureau and the Chengdu Culture and Tourism Development Group, will arrange activities and offer diverse tourism products to travel enthusiasts from around the world, according to the organizers of the event.

Previous sessions of the event were held in Lijiang, Yunnan province, and Shanghai in January and August.

Chengdu, known as the "Capital of Leisure" and one of the best tourism cities of China, is expected to attract more overseas tourists as the forum is drawing wide attention from domestic and foreign media, said an official from the Chengdu Tourism Bureau.

Early this year, the Sichuan provincial government put forward the goal of building Chengdu into a global tourism destination. Chengdu later issued an implementation plan to push that initiative forward.

In the annual MasterCard Global Destination Cities Index report, released in July, Chengdu ranked second among cities with the fastest growing number of tourists from 2009 to 2015.

The city would like to strengthen its cooperation with tourism enterprises including Ctrip toward the goal of becoming a global tourism destination, the official said.

The Easy Trip Chengdu Challenge will enable overseas tourists to evaluate Chengdu's tourism products, which will help authorities improve the products and fine-tune the structure of the industry, the official said.

"Tourism authorities and industry insiders should also seize the opportunity provided by the forum and further tap the North American market ahead of 2016, which marks China-US Tourism Year," said the official.

Ctrip has also launched a poll for the best tourist destinations in the world as another warmup for the forum.

The poll will be based on the more than 50 million tourism comments contributed by Ctrip's 250 million users, and the results will be decided by nearly 4 million netizens who can vote for the event.

Other activities, including a summit on big data and social marketing, an experience-sharing seminar attended by tourism celebrities and awards ceremonies will be held during the forum.

Sharing experiences

Tourism enthusiasts and netizens have shared their thoughts about the event.

Gu Yue, a high-profile long-distance hitchhiker, said he has high expectations for the forum.

"I learned a lot from tourism experts and industry insiders at the Lijiang forum in January. It's my pleasure to share my travel experience with enthusiasts from around the world in Chengdu," he said.

The forum should help tourists from around the world gain a better knowledge of Chengdu's unique natural resources, rich historical heritage and unparalleled cuisine, a netizen said.

Ctrip attaches great importance to its cooperation with Chengdu, said a manager from the online tourism service agency.

The company picked Chengdu as the venue for the forum because it is a dynamic tourist destination that epitomizes the harmonious combination of natural landscape and urbanization, said the manager.

Since Ctrip launched its Chengdu branch in 2007, the branch has significantly expanded its business to take charge of operations in 11 provinces and regions in western China.

Chengdu, with a sophisticated air transportation network, advanced exhibition facilities and booming tourism, has won the recognition of consumers and tourists worldwide, and its goal of building a global tourism destination conforms to the global outreach strategy of the China Travelers' Forum, said the manager.

The company has increased investment in Chengdu as well as in western China, whose role is highlighted in the country's Belt and Road Initiative.

Ctrip's cooperation with Chengdu will soon bear fruit, said the manager.

Contact the writers through liyu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/16/2015 page20)