Well on the way to being a top tourist destination

Jessamine Barnieh and her husband Edward Barnieh explore Chengdu.

As one of the most popular tourist destinations in China, Chengdu has played host to an increasing number of influential tourism events in recent years.

The newest event will be the China Travelers' Forum to be held in March. Initiated by Chinese e-tourism giant Ctrip and co-hosted by the Chengdu Tourism Bureau and the Chengdu Culture and Tourism Development Group, the event is expected to attract more than 1,000 participants, including travelers, tourism officials, entrepreneurs and experts.

The forum is one of the world's largest tourism events. Previous sessions of the event were held in Lijiang, Yunnan province, and Shanghai. For the first time, this year's event is inviting overseas travelers to take part, according to Ctrip.

Activities and diverse tourism products for travel enthusiasts from around the world will be on offer at the event. A summit on big data and social marketing, a knowledge-sharing seminar and an award ceremony are also on the agenda, organizers say.

Lan Meiling, the manager of Ctrip's smart travel company, said the company picked Chengdu as the venue because it is a dynamic tourist destination that has won the recognition of tourists and industry insiders, as well as its welldeveloped air transport network and advanced exhibition facilities.

"Ctrip is optimistic about its cooperation with Chengdu. The city's goal of establishing itself as a worldclass tourist destination coincides with the global outreach strategy of the China Travelers' Forum."

Chengdu is the largest aviation hub in western China. It had 85 international air routes by the end of 2015, and Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport handled 42 million passengers in 2015, making it among the world's Top 30 in terms of passenger volume.

As a warm-up for the event, veteran foreign travelers from Australia, Singapore, Britain and the United States were invited to Chengdu in December to explore the city through different tours. The organizers hope that the travelers, who between them have more than 1 million fans on their social media accounts, will share their travel experiences in Chengdu and help people get to know more about the city's charms.

Serena Yue Liang Goh, one of the travelers, who runs a tourism website in New York, said she was attracted by Chengdu's culture, food and relaxed way of life. She particularly liked the broad and narrow alleys, two ancient streets in central Chengdu.

She uploaded a photo of her holding a stuffed toy panda on a social media app and said her friends were eager to hear about her trip to Chengdu.

Jessamine Barnieh and her husband Edward from Britain visited the Anren ancient town, the Thatched Cottage of Poet Du Fu, and the Jinsha Ruins, which have a history of more than 3,000 years.

Edward Barnieh said he was amazed by the mortar made from egg whites and sticky rice used by the ancient Chinese builders, while Jessamine said she was impressed with the way Chengdu was protecting its culture, traditional lifestyle and ancient buildings.

The couple received more than 40,000 likes and 80 comments within three hours of sharing their photos of Anren ancient town via Twitter and Facebook.

Chengdu has attracted 2.2 million overseas tourists in 2015, an increase of 82 percent from 2011. It aims to attract 2.7 million overseas tourists this year.

Last July, MasterCard's tourist destination index ranked Chengdu second in terms of its growth rate of international tourists from 2009 to 2015.

Because of its increasing attractiveness to tourists, last September the city was picked by the 21st UNWTO General Assembly to host the next World Tourism Organization General Assembly next year.