Trade mission to China hopes to attract more visitors
A tourism delegation will visit Shanghai this week to try to encourage more Chinese to come to the UK on holiday.
The group of 40 organisations taking part in China Mission 2012 includes national and regional tourism boards, city and tourist attractions, travel agencies, hotels and specialist tour operators.
They will be looking to enhance their relationship with the Chinese travel industry through a series of meetings and one to one appointments with Chinese travel agents, said VisitBritain.
VisitBritain said a reocred 150,000 visitors from China came to the UK last year, spending more than £240m. Over the past five years, the UK has seen a 39% rise in visits from China and VisitBritain hopes that by 2020 it can attract an additional 233,000 visitors, a rise of 156%.
China mission leader, VisitBritain director of overseas, Keith Beecham said: "The UK tourism opportunities from China are vast, numerous and there to be developed further, especially in this crucial post-London 2012 period.
"Such was the demand from the industry that our mission could have been booked more than three times over. Everyone now recognises that China is a hugely important market for tourism and these business trips will help us achieve our target of welcoming 382,000 Chinese visitors by 2020."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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