VisitBritain to host first trade mission to China

National tourism agency VisitBritain, has announced it will showcase “the best of Britain” at Destination Britain China and North East Asia, taking place 22-24 November in Shanghai. Nick de Bois (pictured), chairman of VisitBritain, will lead the agency’s first trade mission to China since 2019. The event will bring together 43 industry suppliers from across Britain with 69 top buyers from China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea to do business. 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 experiences on offer, encouraging visitors to explore more of Britain. More than 2,000 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 include hotels, visitor attractions, destination management companies, retailers, tour and sightseeing operators. Nick de Bois 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.” 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 to 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%.