The GITF Guangzhou International Travel Fair is the oldest tourism fair in China, covering domestic and outbound tourism since more than 30 years. South China is the source market for the majority of Chinese outbound travellers, however it is paid less attention by most National Tourism Organisations compared to Beijing and Shanghai. The “other half” of the Meaningful Tourism Centre, the COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, is organising since many years the conference accompanying the fair. This year, the whole fair was organised under the motto of “Meaningful Tourism – Enduring Connections”.
On the afternoon of the second day of the fair, a special Meaningful Tourism Forum was held in the stage area inside the international hall of GITF. The Forum was held in English, however a simultaneous translation was provided by the organisers of GITF, who supported the event in a very professional way.
The Forum started with a brief introduction into the concept of Meaningful Tourism by its founder and Executive Director of the MTC Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt. It was pointed out that also for the tourism development in China as well as for service providers and destinations serving Chinese visitors it becomes increasingly important to switch to a Meaningful Tourism approach. In China working in tourism and hospitality has become perceived even less attractive after the pandemic, as could be experienced even in the beautiful Five-Star hotel adjacent to the fair, in which some of the events took place and most exhibitors stayed. The staff is diligent and friendly, but untrained and in many cases obviously new to the job, resulting in bookings not found in the reservation system, tablets with drink crashing to the ground etc. Outbound tourists from China are also getting more and more conscious about ecological consequences of their travel and start to prefer services communicating their commitment to sustainable practices.
The introduction was followed by the Chairman of PATA, Peter Semone, who explained why PATA choose as its Vision statement the establishment of a Meaningful Pacific Asia Tourism Economy. He warned that tourism might face the fate of the Dodo, a bird on Mauritius which became extinct after being hunted by Dutch colonizers in the 17th century, providing the base for the saying “as dead as a Dodo”. Tourism as a mass phenomenon is not very old and its further existence cannot be taken for granted. Meaningful Tourism has been chosen by PATA as a holistic approach which will help to keep tourism alive.
The main part of the Forum followed with a roundtable talk chaired by Prof. Dr. Arlt, with Peter Semone and two additional guests participating: Catherine Germier (CEO Millennium Destinations, former CEO Destination Mekong and Certified Meaningful Tourism Transformational Game Workshop trainer for Cambodia and Laos) and Anita Chan (CEO Compass Edge). The panelists shared their insights into the question of how to use the Meaningful Tourism tool to increase benefits and satisfaction especially for China’s outbound tourism in the Asia-Pacific region. Catherine provided experiences especially from the destinations along the Mekong River, while Anita talked about the efforts and challenges the hospitality sector in the region is facing.
The final part was given to the audience and a few questions answered mostly regarding the workshop and how it can be provided in different places in the future.
More photos of GITF and especially the Meaningful Tourism Forum are available online:
https://live.photoplus.cn/live/54165576?#/list
https://live.photoplus.cn/live/pc/2963791/#/live