VisitBritain gearing up to host its first trade mission to China since 2019, led by Chairman Nick de Bois CBE
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The best of destination Britain will be on show in China as VisitBritain Chairman Nick de Bois CBE leads the agency’s first trade mission to the country since 2019.
Destination Britain China and North East Asia, taking place from 22 to 24 November in Shanghai, is bringing together 43 industry suppliers from across Britain with 69 top buyers from China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea to do business.
More than 2000 one-to-one business appointments are set to take place during the three-day trade fair. Travel buyers will have the chance to connect with British tourism suppliers to learn about the latest products and innovations on offer from across Britain’s tourism industry.
The British suppliers, many of whom are attending the event in China for the first time, include hotels, visitor attractions, destination management companies, retailers, tour and sightseeing operators, spanning the length and breadth of the nations and regions.
VisitBritain Chairman Nick de Bois CBE said:
“It is fantastic to be leading VisitBritain’s trade mission to China, the first since 2019, a timely and valuable opportunity to boost the recovery from this incredibly important visitor market.
“This mission marks a major milestone for us to reconnect with the travel trade across China and North East Asia and for British travel suppliers and destinations to get their tourism products and services in front of top buyers and explore new business opportunities.
“With pent-up demand for travel and with Britain back on China’s Approved Destination Status list, this trade mission is also a valuable chance to promote our welcome and to hear first-hand from buyers on the motivations and trends driving outbound travel from the region.”
As well as doing business, delegates and media will hear about international travel market trends alongside seminars from VisitScotland, UK Visas and Immigration, Kendal Mountain Film Festival and Virgin Atlantic Airways, to boost knowledge of Britain as a visitor destination and drive urgency to visit. VisitBritain will also be showcasing its GREAT Britain ‘See Things Differently’ campaign promoting the fresh and exciting experiences on offer, inspiring visitors to explore more of Britain and to travel across the seasons.
VisitBritain’s research shows that airline routes and seat capacity from China are showing strong recovery, flight bookings are continuing to build back and the UK is high on the wish list of Chinese travellers. Its latest forecast shows that China is set to return at the UK’s second most valuable visitor market in the next two years.
Flight bookings from China to the UK are currently tracking at about 50% of 2019 levels, showing significant improvements from January when bookings were just 6%.
As well as its Destination Britain China and North East Asia trade mission, VisitBritain continues to work closely with industry and partners in market to promote Britain’s outstanding tourism offer and experiences that visitors can only have here.
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Notes to editors:
- There has been strong recovery in scheduled direct international airline capacity between China and the UK as 2023 has continued. Airline seat capacity from China to UK first met 2019 levels in August and was set to exceed it by 6% in October.
- China was the UK’s second most valuable inbound visitor market in 2019, worth £1.7 billion, 6% of all inbound spending in the UK in 2019. Looking back to 2019 there were 883,000 visits from China to the UK. China visitors spent an average of £1,937 per visit in 2019, three times the all-market average. They also stayed longer in the UK, 16 nights compared to the all market visitor average of seven in 2019.
- For every 22 Chinese visitors, one job is created in Britain’s tourism industry.
- Visits from China to the UK and spending by Chinese visitors in the UK is forecast to recover to pre-COVID levels in 2025 (forecasts from Oxford Economics/VisitBritain, and are indicative only).
Further information:
• Further information about VisitBritain’s inbound tourism forecast for 2023 is on its website here: https://www.visitbritain.org/2023-tourism-forecast
• For destination inspiration for Britain see https://www.visitbritain.com/en/
