Following years of high­lighting first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai at CITM, attention at this year’s event will focus on second- and third-tier destinations.

Speaking to the Daily after the CITM 2013 press conference today,  Li Shihong, director-gen­eral, Department of Marketing and International Cooperation, China National Tourism Ad­ministration, said: “Beijing and Shanghai are still important (des­tinations) but everyone is aware of their (tourism) potential. It is time for us to build awareness for other (Chinese) cities.”

As such, CITM 2013’s collec­tion of exhibitors will include several second- and third-tier Chinese cities such as Fujian province’s Changle and Nanping; Gansu province’s Gannan and Wuwei; Guangdong province’s Dongguan; and Hebei province’s Zhangjiakou and Tangshan.

Booths showcasing these desti­nations are mostly located in halls one, two and six.

Li said: “Second- and third-tier cities such as Kunming and Chengdu are rising in importance and they have the capability to host both local and foreign (trav­ellers).”