After lately years of development, China tourism has gradually strode into the top list of developed tourist countries in the world. In order to further develop international tourist market, to consolidate the achievements we've got and to improve our means of promotion, China National Tourism Administration decided to hold China International Travel Mart since 1998. CITM is one of the most effective marketing tools, China National Tourism Administration planed to make it a very influential travel mart in the Asian-pacific region & all over the world. 　　 CITM1998 was held in Shanghai Mart from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, 1998. There were 1,300 exhibitors from 26 countries participated in the mart. It has exhibition areas of 4,000sq m, 700 standard booths, of which 500 were domestic participants, 200 were overseas tourist organizations & corporations. 　　 The mart was mainly a professional exhibition, concurrently open to the public. China National Tourism Administration invited nearly one thousand overseas traveling wholesalers & agents to participate in the mart as buyers. In the meantime, overseas correspondents, principals of related countries & organizations were also invited.