The three day trade event, this year held in partnership with British Airways and Visit Wales, takes place in Guangzhou, China, from Tuesday 21 November to Thursday 24 November with more than 3500 business appointments set to take place.
In attendance will be UK suppliers including hotels and retailers, visitor attractions, tour operators and local destinations from across Britain who will be doing business with 75 buyers from 15 cities across China.
VisitBritain Director Patricia Yates said:
“China is the most valuable outbound tourism market in the world and a huge opportunity for Britain. This event gives UK travel suppliers and local destinations the chance to get their tourism products and services in front of top buyers from China and to forge valuable business connections.
“We will be showcasing to Chinese travel trade and media the outstanding innovations in tourism across our nations and regions from the latest in luxury travel to rail, food and drink products, ultimately inspiring more visitors from China to book a trip to Britain right now.”
Destination Britain China has been running since 2009 and is a flagship event in VisitBritain’s annual trade event calendar. As well as doing business with top travel buyers in China, delegates at this year’s event will hear about the latest international travel trends, what the UK is doing to attract more international visitors alongside seminars on product development.
Britain has seen record-breaking growth from China in the first half of 2017. From January to June this year there were 115,000 visits from China to the UK, up 47% on the same period last year, with visitors spending £231 million, up 54%.
Visitors from China are some of the UK’s highest spenders, they also stay longer and travel more widely. In 2016 Chinese visitors spent, on average, £1,972 during their visit, more than three times the all-market average. They visited the UK for an average of 20 nights in 2016, compared to an all market average of seven.
Britain’s hotels, shops and visitor attractions continue to offer great value for visitors from China. As of October 2017 the UK was 10% cheaper for visitors from China, compared to October 2015.
For every 22 visits from China to the UK, one job is created in Britain’s tourism industry.
VisitBritain has ambitions to double spend from Chinese visitors to £1 billion annually by 2020.
Delegates attending Destination Britain China 2017
Alnwick Castle
An English Collection
Beatles Liverpool
Beta Travel Limited
Big Bus Tours
Blenheim Palace
British Airways
Castle Howard
China Britain Travel Group (Hello Britain Ltd)
China Perfect Travel
China Southern Airlines
City Cruises
City Sightseeing Worldwide
David Urquhart Travel/Du Grand Tours
Destination West End
Discovering Distilleries - Diageo
Discovery International Education and Travel Group Limited
Dorsett Hotel
Dufry / World Duty Free
Durham Cathedral
ECE Travel Ltd
Edwardian Hotels London
Encore Tickets
English Heritage
English Lakes Hotels
Golden Tours
Great Western Railway
Hainan Airlines Holding Company Limited
Historic Royal Palaces
Jurys Inns
Kew Green Hotel Group
Lake District Estates - Ullswater Steamers
Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway Co. Ltd
Loch Ness by Jacobite
London & Partners
made
Marketing Liverpool
Marketing Manchester
Mountain Goat Tours & Holidays
No.1 Travel Ltd
Northern England
RMG Hotels
See Britain Ltd
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust & Royal Shakespeare Company
The Alnwick Garden
The Athenaeum Hotel and Residences
The Hari London
Tourism Ireland
Tourism South East
Trump Turnberry - A Luxury Collection Resort
UKVI
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd
Visit Birmingham
Visit Wales
Visit York
VisitBritain Shop
VisitScotland
VOSAIO Travel Ltd
Wangping Travel Limited
Western Lake District & Coast
Westfield Europe Ltd
Windermere Lake Cruises
World of Beatrix Potter Attraction/ Lakeside Railway
YOYO International Travel Limited
