Travel Portland and Oregon Tourism Commission are co-sponsoring the Active America China Summit, the only trade show in North America focused exclusively on building inbound Chinese tourism. The summit is taking place April 23-26 at the Hilton Portland & Executive Towers.
China is North America's fastest-growing inbound tourism market, and tour operators who attended past editions of the Active America China Summit represented companies responsible for more than 40 percent of all tourism to North America. This is the first time Portland has hosted the event, which is now in its ninth year.
"We welcome the 200 Active America China Summit participants to Portland," said Jeff Miller, president and CEO of Travel Portland. "One of our main international tourism objectives is to promote the region as a preferred destination for travelers from China. This event represents an effective way for our industry partners to introduce Chinese operators directly to their products and services."
"The Active America China Summit represents a unique opportunity for local and regional tourism and hospitality businesses to present their offerings directly to 75 Chinese tour buyers without leaving the state," said Jake Steinman, president and CEO of North American Journeys. "We bill it as the sales mission that comes to you, so we intentionally limit participation to a 3-to-1 ratio of sellers to buyers."
"Chinese tourism has increased dramatically over the past decade, and the China inbound market is tremendously important to the Oregon economy," said Todd Davidson, CEO of Travel Oregon. "China is now the state's No. 1 overseas market and the Portland region's No. 2 market (according to VisaVue 2014)."
In 2016, Chinese visitors to Oregon spent $226.6 million on travel-related services in the state, and $112.3 million of that spending occurred in Portland (according to Tourism Economics).
For more information about the summit, visit www.ActiveAmericaChina.net.
