“CNTA Office Will Open In Early 2004”

China National Tourism Administration's (CNTA) marketing and communications department assistant director general, South Asia, Liu Shi Jun was in India, fronting a large delegation of the Chinese travel trade and to affirm an Indian office opening in early 2004. He tells Bhisham Mansukhani just why his country feels that the time to promote to the Indian market is just right

How important is the Indian outbound market to China in a post-SARS scenario?

India is a close neighbour of China and due to the close geographical proximity one does think of visiting the place. The time has never been more ripe than now when bilateral relations between the two of Asia's most promising economies have grown thicker over the last two years that witnessed a visit by the Chinese prime minister and a reciprocal by India's prime minister Our chairman and vice chairman have also visited India bringing with them delegations of major whole sellers. Further, China Eastern, Air India and Cathay Pacific have now connected India to China. Cathay Pacific has begun flying for the first time in 13 years to Shanghai and Chowmein from HongKong. To substantiate its intent, the CNTA just lead a delegation of 19 ground operators to Mumbai that included majors from Beijing, Shanghai, and Guandong. As a sign of bilateral goodwill, the Chinese government has designated India as an approved tourist destination to receive Chinese nationals.

What about Indian inbound numbers?

Indian travellers to China in 2003 totalled 213,600 and though a majority of this figure is business travel (over 10000 Indian visitors to the two annual Canton Fair in Guangdong province alone), over 150,000 visas were issued, over 34 per cent, 174000 tourists post SARS alone, the rest of the top markets took a hit of about 30 per cent but the Indian market was the fastest to bounce back in the recovery stage. Indian travellers, have undoubtedly stood by us.

What approach has the Chinese Tourism Authority taken with regard to tourism promotion?

The uniqueness of China's approach to tourism promotion lies in its emphasis on regional tourism towards a mutual end. We are not competitors but partners. We cooperate with our neighbours particularly HongKong, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Korea. We promote regional tourism which we consider as a win-win policy. For instance, Guandong, Macau and Hongkong have joint together as a triangle. For the last couple of year, CNTA and KNTO have also worked together and has allied with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) to jointly promote our countries to Germany.

Why the decision to set up an office in India?

The CNTA office will open in early 2004. This decision is supported and encouraged by our company chairman. Zeroing down on a definite date would not be feasible at this point, but when it opens either in Delhi or Mumbai, the aim of the office will be to propel a high recall value for China as a destination within the industry with a slew of events. CNTA is looking to set up an office in a market it attaches a lot of potential to. India ranks as China's 16th largest market for tourism. Mutual trade between the two nations stands at over 6.5 billion dollars with a target of 10 billion by 2005. CNTO has 17 offices worldwide, two of which are in Asia. India will be our third Asian set up.

How has China's post-SARS recovery progressed so far?

Substantiating this answer with quotes, I would say that last year, we had 97.91 million international tourist arrivals. Domestic tourists for the same year numbered 780 million and the revenue from inbound tourism alone was US$ 20.4 billion.

Has China become more affordable for the Indian outbound traveller?

There is a certain challenge that tags along with the answer to your question. Like any other destination, China is affordable to tourists with different budgets. The challenge is to get the trade to accept this fact. Frankly, most Indian tour operators are not quite familiar with China as a tourism product. I am incumbent to heighten their awareness about this diverse destination. In this regard, we have invited a dozen travel agents to participate in the China International Travel Mart in Shanghai in 2004.