More than 60 travel trade and industry suppliers from across the UK are set to showcase why Britain is a must-go-now destination to buyers from across China at VisitBritain’s annual Destination Britain China event.
The three day trade event, this year held in partnership with British Airways and Visit Wales, takes place in Guangzhou, China, from Tuesday 21 November to Thursday 23 November with more than 3,500 business appointments set to take place.
In attendance will be UK suppliers including hotels, retailers, visitor attractions, tour operators and local destinations from across Britain who will be doing business with 75 buyers from 13 cities across China.
VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates said: “China is the most valuable outbound tourism market in the world and a huge opportunity for Britain. This event gives UK travel suppliers and local destinations the chance to get their tourism products and services in front of top buyers from China and to forge valuable business connections.
“We will be showcasing to Chinese travel trade and media the outstanding innovations in tourism across our nations and regions from the latest in luxury travel to rail, food and drink products, ultimately inspiring more visitors from China to book a trip to Britain right now.”
Destination Britain China has been running since 2009 and is a flagship event in VisitBritain’s annual trade event calendar. As well as doing business with top travel buyers in China, delegates at this year’s event will hear about the latest international travel trends, what the UK is doing to attract more international visitors and attend seminars on product development.
Britain has seen record-breaking growth from China in the first half of 2017. From January to June this year there were 115,000 visits from China to the UK, up 47% on the same period last year, with visitors spending £231 million, up 54%.
Visitors from China are some of the UK’s highest spenders, they also stay longer and travel more widely. In 2016 Chinese visitors spent, on average, £1,972 during their visit, more than three times the all-market average. They visited the UK for an average of 20 nights in 2016, compared to an all market average of seven.
Britain’s hotels, shops and visitor attractions continue to offer great value for visitors from China. As of October 2017 the UK was 10% cheaper for visitors from China, compared to October 2015.
For every 22 visits from China to the UK, one job is created in Britain’s tourism industry.
VisitBritain has ambitions to double spend from Chinese visitors to £1 billion annually by 2020.
