On August 11, the press conference on China International Tourist Commodities Fair 2009 (hereinafter referred to as the “CITCF 2009”) jointly hosted by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and Zhejiang government was held in Beijing. Mr. Wang Zhifa, Deputy Director of CNTA and Mr. Huang Xuming, Vice-Chairman of Political Consultative Committee of Zhejiang Province, attended the press conference. It is reported that the CITCF 2009 will be held in Yiwu International Expo Centre where 1,500 exhibition booths will be set up on November 12-15. The CITCF 2009 aims at establishing a platform for the development of tourist commodities and cultivating the market of tourist commodities by means of exhibition, exchange, trade, assessment and discussion. Thirteen categories of tourist commodities including tourism equipment, hotel articles, souvenirs, food, and tourism goods will be exhibited on the fair for trade. Some other events will be held during the CITCF 2009, such as China Tourist Commodity Development Forum, China Tourism Investment Symposium, the 1st National Tourist Commodity Competition and visits to designated scenic spots. It is expected that the CITCF 2009 will attract more than 60,000 people, over 5000 traders abroad and over 20 trade teams.

The development of tourist commodities was very important to the growth of China’s tourism industry, said Mr. Wang Zhifa at the conference. Currently, China is evolving from a large tourism country to a strong tourism country. However, the inappropriate industrial structure results in the gap between the overall low quality of China’s tourism industry and the high demand of development, and the composition of tourism income is very unreasonable. At present, the income from tickets of scenic spots still plays a dominant role in the total tourist income. The income from tourist shopping only accounts for less tan 20% of the total tourist income in China, while in developed countries the number is 40%-60%. This is a conspicuous gap.

Source: National Tourism Administration

Editor: Xie Fang