Jiangsu tourism is gaining momentum in Australia

On February 23, the China National Tourist Office in Sydney and Jiangsu Tourism Promotion Center in Australia & New Zealand  successfully held the Grand Canal Promotion event of Jiangsu Culture and Tourism at the China Cultural Center in Sydney.Mr. Wang Shuyu, Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Consulate General in Sydney; Mr. Xiao Xiayong, Director of China Cultural Center in Sydney and Director of China National Tourist Office in Sydney; Mr. Sun Zhixing, Regional General Manager of China Southern Airlines in Australia;Mr. Zeng E, General manager of Xiamen Airlines Sydney Office;and representatives of Australian travel agency and airlines all attended the event. The participants had a feeling of the water charm of Jiangsu.At the same time, under the favorable opportunity and background of the gradual recovery of tourism exchanges between China and Australia, all participants fully exchanged information, reached consensus, made active plans to cope with market challenges, and shared opportunities for the development of tourism industry in the future.

Director Xiao said in his speech that China's move to relax its COVID-19 prevention and control measures has provided new opportunities for tourism exchanges between China and Australia. In the post-pandemic period, Australia will see a large number of Chinese tourists returning back.China also hopes that more Australian tourists will visit China to deepen mutual understanding, enhancing mutual trust, creating opportunities and deepening cooperation. At the time of the revival and reconstruction of the tourism industry, I hope that the tourism industry of China and Australia can work together to meet the challenges and promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries. Director Xiao also pointed out in his speech that the brand of "Water Charm of Jiangsu" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the public, and the name of "heaven on Earth" is worthy of its name. The ancient water village, stone arched-bridges, classic Chinese garden, Suzhou embroidery and other intangible cultural heritages and water village stylish life in Jiangsu are especially eye-catchy name cards.

Different from previous presentations that included every city in Jiangsu province, this year's presentation took the Grand Canal as the theme and introduced eight prefecture-level cities alongside the canal in Jiangsu: Xuzhou, Suqian, Huai 'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou.The Grand Canal, which has been running through Jiangsu Province for more than two thousand years, has nurtured wonderful local culture, local folk art, Huaiyang style cuisine, etc., ancient towns,residential courtyards and ruins parks have been preserved very well. All these resources have attracted the attention of the guests and left a deep impression on them.In the tourism route promotion session, the presenter introduced Jiangsu “eco-gourmet food” Route, which was shortlisted in the "Charm of Jiangsu" inbound Tourism route collection last year to the guests, showing the ecological and natural beauty of Jiangsu to the delegates and giving full play to the exploration of beauty. At the same time, presenter also popularized the water networking system and Grand Canal culture of Jiangsu Province to the delegates.

Karen Robertson, representative of MW Travel, a local Australian travel agency, said in her speech that Jiangsu, China, has picturesque scenery, long years old history and splendid culture.She has had the honor to visit Jiangsu province many times, and was deeply moved by its convenient transportation, rich and colorful intangible cultural heritage, ever-changing urban landscape and carefree life atmosphere. Every time she travels to Jiangsu, she is reluctant to leave.Although the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a serious challenge to Australia's outbound tourism market, the tourism industry is confident that it will resume re-organizing Australian citizen to China and Jiangsu Province this year at an early date. 

The presentation was well received by the Australian tourism industry. Paul Daniel, who has been in the Australian travel industry for more than 40 years, runs Guidepost, a travel agency specialising in DIY personalised and special Tours in Gerringong, NSW. When asked about his viewpoints on going to China, he said: "Before the epidemic, my group trips to China used to focus on theme tours and explore niche attractions, such as train tours and cruises, in addition to seeing the main famous tourist attractions. China has always attracted my interest.I am very much looking forward to re-organizing local tourists and clients who are interested in niche tourist attractions to explore the new wonders of China." Another tourism industry representative from Bankstown was happy to say: "This year’s Jiangsu promotion event,the introduction of content can be implemented directly which in line with market demand and consumption necessaries, the content of the promotion is very informative. As an Australian tourist to China, I hope i can participate in such Chinese tourism culture promotion meetings in the future, so as to obtain first-hand information and the latest Chinese tourism publicity materials at the first time.Now is the right time to hold such a presentation. When it comes to Chinese tourism, many Australian tourists have a vague impression. Travel agencies need to promote and introduce the latest trends of the Chinese tourism market, the latest tour routes, the latest scenic spots and other information to tourists who come to consult, so that it will be easier to stimulate their interest in signing up for the tour, and easier to organize a successful tour.