The CITM 2014, jointly sponsored by the China National Tourism Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, was held at the Shanghai New International Expo Center from November 14 to 16, 2014. The CITM 2014 covered an area of 57,500 square meters, attracted the exhibitors from 106 countries and regions and had 2,427 exhibition booths, including 1,491 domestic booths and 936 overseas booths. There were a total of 278 exhibitors, of which 206 were overseas exhibitors; and the buyers numbered over 1,200, of which 850 were invited overseas buyers, and 350 were overseas private buyers. The United States served as the Guest of Honor.
The CITM 2014 made remarkable achievements. During the mart, 4.85 million copies of promotion materials were distributed; about 3,600 contracts were signed; and the total number of the people under contracts registered about five million. During the two professional days on November 14 and 15, about 18,000 Chinese and foreign tourism-related people were present; and on the public open day on November 16, over 30,000 citizens visited the mart. It totally received over 80,000 visitors during the mart.
The main characteristics of the CITM 2014 are as follows:
(1) All the related foreign and domestic sectors attached great importance to the CITM. During the mart, the China National Tourism Administration and the UN World Tourism Organization jointly organized the China International Tourism Forum 2014, at which the development opportunities of China’s tourism and the development future of the world tourism were explored and discussed.
(2) Overseas honored guests actively participated in the mart. The delegates from tourism departments of 31 countries, such as the Republic of Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Laos, the United States, Russia, Croatia, etc. and some international organizations such as the UN World Tourism Organization and the South Pacific Tourism Organization and 30-plus overseas VIP groups from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan had attended the mart. Among them, there were 7 honored guests of minister rank and 19 of vice minister rank.
(3) Science and technology were mixed with tourism more closely. The year of 2014 is the “Year of Wisdom Tourism”. In the year, the scientific and technological information was integrated with tourism more tightly; the use of the new media showed the new normal in the marketing of the tourism brands; and more new products were promoted. All the exhibition booths made a good use of the wisdom means to promote their new products, and the CITM New Media Marketing Center was set up, providing technologies and a platform for the promotion of the brands, products and travel routes of the exhibitors through network live broadcast, non-interview live broadcast, special topic show, on-site interaction and other dissemination modes.
(4) The characteristics of the local cultures were shown more prominently. Both overseas and domestic exhibitors vied with each other for promoting their “local cultures”. They displayed their local cultural traditions through the decoration of their booths and promotion materials, the costumes of their staff members and their promotion programs, presenting a strong visual impact and spiritual shock at the mart.
(5) A large number of online and offline activities and forums were organized. The Organizing Committee of the CITM 2014 held a large number of activities to enrich the mart’s contents. The “Night of Beautiful China”, a tourism presentation with “Explore Beautiful China along the Silk Road” as the theme, was held at the Shanghai Kerry Center on November 13. The sponsor displayed the glamour of civilization, the enthusiastic vitality and the boundless potentials of beautiful China and the Silk Road to the overseas and domestic guests with a wonderful activity which integrated oriental characteristics with fashionable elements. The China International Tourism Forum 2014 and other professional talks were also held during the mart.
