Finnair held celebrations in Helsinki and Beijing to commemorate 30 years of nonstop flights between Helsinki and Beijing. In Helsinki Ambassador Chen Li spoke highly of Finnair’s role in promoting people-to-people exchanges and economic relations during past 30 years.

In Beijing the celebration coincided with the EU-China summit where European Travel Commission (ETC) Executive Director Eduardo Santander said:

Unity is strength. Europe needs to remain competitive in China. Only through deeper cooperation with Chinese authorities, extensive air connectivity to more destinations and an increased commitment of the European tourism sector supporting targeted joint public-private marketing initiatives, Europe will succeed in fostering more travelers from China.

Starting with the one weekly nonstop to Beijing in 1988, Finnair now has 38 weekly flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Xi´an, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing and Hong Kong. By linking Europe and China in less than eight hours Finnair is a major asset in strengthening Chinese tourism in Europe and it was only natural that Finnair join the 2018 EU – China Tourism Year (ECTY).

This initiative by the European Commission working closely with the European Travel Commission is improving travel and tourist experiences, promoting lesser-known destinations, providing opportunities to increase economic cooperation and creating an incentive to make quick progress on EU-China visa facilitation and air connectivity. The ECTY website is designed as a toolkit to provide knowledge and share information; it is specifically designed to help EU tourism businesses, authorities and all other stakeholders establish successful commercial and cultural exchanges with diverse partners in China.