Pan Xihan, deputy director of the provincial tourism administration, talks with company executives at the trade fair.

The 2011 China International Tourism Trade Fair was held in Kunming city of Yunnan province from Oct 27 to 30.

Hubei province sent a promotion delegation, headed by Pan Xihan, deputy director of the Provincial Tourism Administration. The delegation completed all promotion tasks with great results. At the trade fair, Hubei province and Chongqing city once again shared a pavilion to jointly promote tourism along the Three Gorges of Yangtze River, attracting a large audience.

This year, the province concluded with the following main points at the trade fair.

First, Hubei province cooperates with Chongqing city, as it did in the previous session, to jointly promote the Three Gorges tourism service with a unified image. They made the best of neighboring booths to design pavilions under the Three Gorges theme with admirable results. They will set up and deepen strategic cooperation, maintain the unity and integrity of the Three Gorges brand, accelerate joint development of tourism in the Three Gorges region and speed up construction of tourism traffic infrastructures. They will enhance promotion and marketing of tourism, and strengthen joint law enforcements to advance tourism market growth and the tourism economy in the region. The cooperation in the trade fair is a concrete move to implement the Three Gorges tourism cooperation protocol and marks the two parties march towards a new height in cooperation.

Second, tourism companies showed great enthusiasm for participating in the trade fair and innovating promotion modes. The trade fair was held under the backdrop of great global economic uncertainty. The global tourism market has become more complex and the international tourism market has experienced intensified competition. The changing market environment has placed pressure on provincial tourism companies to be more innovative. Key tourism regions and companies from the province actively participated in the trade fair by putting forward multiple travel lines and modes to meet domestic and international tourist demands. For instance, to attract tourists from Taiwan, the province has introduced a tourism complex offering activities for eight days and seven nights. It promotes high-speed rail tours for customers from the Pearl River delta area, Hong Kong and Macao. Tracing relics from the Revolution of 1911 is a priority tourist attraction for domestic and overseas tourists.

Cruise ship companies, including Yangtze River Overseas, Yangtze River Cruise Ship and Yichang Royal Crise Ship, delivered sailing schedules for 2012 at the trade fair. They signed tourism contracts with a number of overseas travelling services.

Before the trade fair officially started, many companies from the province attended Tour China – Appointment Fair for Chinese and Foreign Travel Services, sponsored by the National Tourism Administration. They held business talks with 150 overseas companies from America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and signed cooperation contracts. The activity made these exchanges more effective, professional and internationalized.

Third, key tourism brands are welcome in the market. The joint promotion of Hubei and Chongqing has further improved the value of Hubei tourism brands, featuring One River and Two Mountains. The province signed 160 tourism service contracts, relating to 25,000 travelers.

Fourth, Hubei will deepen tourism cooperation with relevant regions to facilitate all-round growth of local tourism market. During the trade fair, Pan introduced staff to officials from the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association, overseas affairs office of National Tourism Administration, and Guangdong provincial Tourism Administration on Tourism Cooperation.

At the commendation meeting after the trade fair, Hubei province was awarded with honorary titles for best organization and excellent booth decorations.

Hubei pavilion attracts enthusiastic customers.