EU-China Tourism Year starts in Venice

Tourism officials from the EU and China synchronized their year-long strategies in the Italian city of Venice on Friday for balanced and adequate development of the industry to meet people's ever-growing needs for quality travel experience.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sent their congratulatory letters to the official start of the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, which was opened by Qi Xuchun, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Elzbieta Bienkowska, European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs and Du Jiang, deputy head of China National Tourism Administration.

Li said in his message that tourism is an important bridge for cultural exchange, the promotion of international friendship and an industry that stimulates economic growth. China and the EU have rich tourism resources and bright prospects for cooperation, he added.

He said that both sides will take the opportunity of 2018 EU-China Tourism Year to extend China-EU tourism cooperation and personnel exchanges, promote dialogue and development and mutual benefit.

Chinese outbound tourists made 126 million international trips in 2016, an increase of eight percent on 2015, according to the China National Tourism Administration.

Average spending of Chinese Europe-bound travelers has already surpassed that of the Europe-bound travelers from the United States, according to the European Travel Commission.

Meanwhile in 2017, 69.5 million China-bound tourism trips were made during the first 6 months, a 2.4 percent increase on the same period in 2016. Economic benefits generated by international travelers in China surpassed $60 billion in the same period, an equivalent to the estimated amount that Brexit might cost the UK.

"A 10 percent increase in Chinese tourists will mean 1 billion Euros ($1.2 billion) more to EU's tourism industry." said European Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska .

All 28 EU member states are participating at the 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, which will see a long list of high-profile awareness-raising events being staged throughout the year, including the EU-China Light Bridge project when landmarks around the EU will be illuminated in red, the main color of the Chinese national flag while their Chinese counterparts will shine in the blue of the EU flag.

Cultural exchanges are also high on the tourism year's agenda.

On the eve of the tourism year's opening, Chinese martial art show, the Soul of Shaolin, and modern Peking Opera amazed fans in Venice in a gala performance.

The spectacular show, performed by Kung Fu masters and artists, portrayed the story of orphan-turned Shaolin monk, combining his joys and sorrows with Kung Fu and martial arts such as Zen Boxing, weaponry, internal strength and combat skills.

Italian audiences even got an opportunity to interact with these masters and imitate their skillful moves. Simone Venturini, deputy mayor of the City of Venice for Social Welfare, Healthcare and Economic Development, won the biggest applause for his performance.

"I really appreciated the fighting scenes for the great capacity of the artists. The proximity to the reality of the show was, in my opinion, extraordinary," said Venturini.

He said he loves the idea of inviting people with different cultural background to experience and practice Chinese culture, "I think the public has appreciated that a person with institutional responsibilities has come into play without hiding behind his role," he said.

Speaking in his public role, Venturini said: "The link between China and Europe, and Italy in particular, was born many centuries ago, thanks to men like Matteo Ricci and Marco Polo. This link continued through the trade along the Silk Road."

To further enhance Sino-EU tourism cooperation, he suggested that Europe must sell itself better to the Chinese people. "We must explain to this great people what Europe is ... We must explain to tourists that many countries in Europe contain an enormous number of wonders. Only in Italy, to give an example, there are an infinite number of cultural artefacts, unparalleled in the world," he said.

"This means that a few days are not enough to visit Europe. You have to choose a destination and spend more than a few days enjoying music, food and beauty. And then eventually come back. I believe that in order to understand Europe we must start from Italy, the cradle of culture in Europe."

Europe must also equip itself to offer the best service to the Chinese tourist, helping the (local) tourist entrepreneurs to learn the language, habitats, preferences and tastes of the Chinese people.

Contact the writers at leixiaoxun@chinadaily.com.cn and huyngqi@chinadaily.com.cn

Tan Qiuying and Vincent Fan in Venice contributed to this story.