The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) recently unveiled its new logo. The logo features four modern Chinese characters that together signify Beautiful China. A Chinese character in Oracle style – meaning ‘travel’ – is juxtaposed with the two English words. The design represents a traditional Chinese seal and denotes the full array of Chinese cultural elements. It also stands for the new image and great vision of China Tourism as it faces the world.
The new logo will be on display across the world and beckons all the tourists from home and abroad to experience beautiful China. CNTA and its overseas offices are already developing a comprehensive plan to promote Beautiful China tours. A themed short movie and posters, brochures and electronic promotional materials are also in the process of production and will be out soon.
In 2012, foreign tourist arrivals to China were 27.19 million, representing an increase of 0.29 per cent over the previous year. Before the end of 2015, the figure is expected to reach 32 million, representing an increase of about 4.5 per cent annually.
Tourism is an important element in the bilateral exchange and cooperation between China and India and serves as an invaluable bridge to friendship and partnership between the two neighbors. In recent years, tourist traffic between the two countries has been on a continuous rise. In 2012, the direct (first-stop) visits from China to India went up to 136,000, an increase of 15.2 per cent over 2011. Visits by Indians to China spiraled to 610,000, an increase of 0.61 per cent over the figure of 2011. The future is very bright. At present, there are many direct flights between the cities of India – Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Bangalore – and the cities of China – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming and Hangzhou.
India remains a coveted outbound market as 12 million Indians travel overseas each year with a projected annual growth of 12-13 per cent until 2015. To further tap this source market, China National Tourist Office, New Delhi is mapping out a detailed market plan including media campaigns, travel mart participation and familiarization tours to China.