Friday, March 5, 2021
Turespana, or Tour Spain, in Guangzhou is the first European NTO to associate with COTRI (China Outbound Tourism Research Institute) in its Advantage: Tourism (A: T) programme. This program is expected to reboot business from China.
To quote COTRI CEO, Wolfgang Georg Arlt, “With the progress of testing and vaccination, the easing of restrictions can be expected in the coming months. What is important is to prepare now for the new wave of Chinese outbound tourists to stay ahead of the competition.”
The stakeholders from Spain who took part in A:T include DMOs and NTOs that support tourism, food, and others, he added.
As per COTRI, only a small number of Chinese living within the Schengen Area are crossing into Spain, but is predicting “a deluge once virus-related restrictions are lifted”. Spain is already getting visitors from Macau, Arlt noted.
In 2019, China sent 700,000 visitors to Spain. This figure in 2020 slumped to 100,000, mostly in January and February because of ban in traveling. With the rollout of vaccine world over, Spain is hoping to receive 300,000 visitors from China in 2021. Majority of them are expected to come in the second-half of 2021. They will come from the first- and second-tier cities like before.
Arlt explained that the main target for Tour Spain’s pilot project is on gastronomy and shopping and is in line with the plans for the development of tourism in 2021 in general and steps for further digitalisation.
Technology partners in A:T are Planet, Tencent Cloud International and TCI Research.
In the meantime, yet another European partner will join hands with the A:T programme in March 2021, and COTRI is in talks with other partners, including big attractions, international hospitality and transportation companies.
Tags: spain
