Europe and the EU-China Tourism Year (ECTY) were designated as official partner events of the 2018 edition of the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM). The three-day business to business travel trade fair took place from 16 to 18 April in Beijing with 81 Chinese buyers and 81 European suppliers participating in the B2B workshop and conference. Now entering its 14th year, COTTM is regarded as the industry’s most important platform and remains the only business to business event that focuses purely on the burgeoning outbound market.

A dedicated Europe Pavilion at COTTM showcased a number of European tourism products and destinations. There were 12 exhibitors in the Europe booth: Latvia, Lakeland Region (Finland), Regione Piemonte (Italy), Portugal, and Romania making an especially strong showing with eight exhibitors. The Europe Pavilion at COTTM, supported by the European Union, is part of an ambitious programme of activities in the frame of the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year (ECTY), including business to business matchmaking events and communication marketing campaigns.

Concurrent with the official Europe Pavilion, the European Commission initiative Partnerships in European Tourism (PET) also had a dedicated pavilion thereby synergetically strengthening the impact of the event. Additionally there were two PET events connected to the fair: a B2B matchmaking workshop and a conference. Other European destinations and ETC members were participating on their own, also adding to the impact of the ECTY: Serbia Tourism Board, Poland Tourism Board, Malta Tourism Board, as well as associate members Value Retail and Welcome Chinese.

The ECTY aims to promote the EU as a travel destination in China, provide opportunities to increase bilateral cooperation as well as mutual understanding and create an incentive to make progress on market opening and visa facilitation. The European Commission is responsible for the organisation of the ECTY in cooperation with the European Travel Commission and the China National Tourism Administration.

COTTM 2018 took place from 16 to 18 April 2018 at the National Agricultural Exhibition Center in Beijing. For more information, please visit cottm.com

CONTACT:
Frantisek Reismuller,
[email protected]