China, the new powerhouse of the East will play host to the Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) 2005 from 22 to 24 June 2005. This definitive travel and tourism show will be making its spectacular encore presentation at the Beijing Exhibition Centre after a successful debut in 2004.
China's tourism and travel industry has witnessed an astounding increase since last year. According to the statistics released by Chinese National Tourism Administration (CNTA), 15.99 million Chinese had travelled abroad in the first seven-months of 2004. Since 2003, the number of outbound travellers from China has surpassed those of Japan, making it the highest in Asia. China has also played host to 70 million foreign tourists in the first eight months of 2004.
The second international travel and tourism show has seen a boost in its participation rate this year with Greece, the Official Partner Country for BITE 2005 showing its support and confidence in the exhibition with an astounding 800square meters country pavilion participation. The high-powered Greek delegation will be led by its Minister for Tourism, Dimitris L. Avramopoules.
Apart from Greece, some 20 other countries will also be setting up smaller individual Country Pavilions across three separate halls dedicated to international exhibitors at the Beijing Exhibition Centre. These countries will include China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Germany Hungary, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, Scandinavia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
In additional, BITE 2005 has attracted another 50 individual companies, making a grand total of some 200 international exhibitors. The exhibition will occupy 11,430 square meters of gross exhibit space.
BITE 2005 is the only travel and tourism show that is organized and officially endorsed by the Beijing Tourism Administration (BTA). Beijing Relation Exhibition Co. Ltd (BRE) has assisted in the recruitment of more than 100 Chinese travel agencies, attractions and destinations to showcase their unique services and special package while Singapore-based Conference & Exhibition Management Service Pte Ltd (CEMS) handled the recruitment of international exhibitors.
One of the major highlights at BITE 2005 includes the Hosted Buyer Programme incorporating the Pre-Scheduled Appointments (PSA) system. The Hosted Buyer Programme provides the exhibitors the golden opportunity to meet and interact with top buyers from China and around the world. The programme has since received more than 300 registrations from company in China and internationally with 200 companies selected to be the Hosted Buyers under the programme.
The Pre-Scheduled Appointments (PSA) system on the other hand provides an empowerment tool and interactive platform to buyers in a cost-effective way to meet a diverse range of suppliers and at the same time achieves their business objective. It also presents the exhibitors with the prospect to meet and interact with the major provincial tourism authorities and attractions within China who will be participating at the show.
Overall, BITE 2005 has sets it sight to become the only travel and tourism show that opens the window of opportunities in the vibrant global travel and tourism market to the Chinese and the rest of the globe.
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