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. COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute has organised since many years the conference accompanying the fair. This year, the whole fair was organised under the motto of “Meaningful Tourism – Enduring Connections” from May 15 to 17, 2025.
The venue was again the main conference hall of the WESTIN PAZHOU hotel, which is directly connected to the fairground. Exhibitors as well as many Chinese tourism experts and some students attended the China Outbound Forum, which had the official title “Reimagining Outbound Tourism: Sustainable Connections & Shared Value Creation – From Eco-Conscious Travel to Cultural Symbiosis”.
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt had honour to open the Forum before the stage was taken by Peter Semone, the Chairman of PATA Pacific Asia Travel Association. His unusual topic was “Echoes of Extinction: Will Asia-Pacific Tourism Learn from the Dodo?” Many Chinese participants did obviously not know the saying “As Dead as a Dodo”. He explained to the audience why he talked about the big bird who could not fly and had not natural enemies on the island of Mauritius until Dutch colonizers arrived in the 17th century and killed all birds within a couple of decades: “Tourism practitioners today face an unprecedented convergence of existential threats—climate change, technological disruption, and geopolitical instability. Climate change threatens the very ecosystems and landscapes that attract travelers. Digital divides deepen inequality and sideline host communities. Geopolitical turmoil—from armed conflict to rising nationalism—makes people hesitant to cross borders.
In this moment of uncertainty, the story of the dodo bird offers a stark warning. A symbol of irreversible loss, the dodo reminds us how quickly exploitation and complacency can erase what we once assumed was permanent.”
“Asia-Pacific tourism”, he continued, “now stands at a similar crossroads. While the industry has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, it remains dangerously vulnerable. Overtourism, unsustainable growth, and invisible burdens demand a radical rethinking of how tourism is designed and delivered—at community, provincial, and national levels.”
Peter Semone explained how Meaningful Tourism could be the answer and why PATA adopted it as the Vision statement of the organisation, before ending with the sentence: “. Let us build a future where tourism is not only sustained—but sustains us all.”
The second keynote speaker, Madame Zoritsa Urosevic, Executive Director of UN Tourism, unfortunately had to cancel her live appearance due to the preparations of the election of the new CEO, as described in the Editorial above. Nevertheless, she appeared on the screen in a video message talking about the UN Tourism initiatives for a better global tourism development and the role Chinese international travellers play in it. After her speech the audience gave her a round of applause, even though she could not hear it.
Following these two internationally acclaimed persons was not an easy task , nevertheless the audience followed with attention the keynote speaking about China’s outbound tourism 2025 and beyond: How to react in a meaningful way to changing customer demand and global challenges? The latest numbers from COTRI INTELLIGENCE for the first quarter of 2025 were presented. With 18.5% growth in trips compared to the Q1 2024, China continues to catch-up the late return from pandemic times. However, Chinese tourists spend less and travel even more than before within the region. Almost exactly 50% are still staying within the Greater Bay Area by going to Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR.
The rest of the presentation discussed the changing demand structure of Chinese outbound travellers who are looking for “Value for Money” and use especially Xiaohongshu more than ever to structure their visits. China is the champion of leap-frogging, moving from no phone to smartphone and from no car to electric car etc. Accordingly, many Chinese travellers jumped directly from Sightseeing/Shopping to Transformative Travel, leaving out the phase of Experience.
Following the keynotes, two Panel discussions brought groups of experts from different fields in Chinese outbound tourism to the stage. The first one with the topic “Pathways to Sustainable Outbound Tourism” was chaired by Richard Matuzevich, the International Relations Manager of the WTCF World Tourism Cities Federation, speaking with Dr. Peter Jeng, the Deputy Secretary General of the EU-China Commission and the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, Mr. Buddhika Hewawasam, who kindly stood in for the Deputy Director of the Bureau, Chinthaka Liyanaarachchi, who could not take part. The panel was completed by Santosh Panta, Director of the Nepal Tourism Board.
All panelist shared their views and experiences how outbound tourism is facing special challenges when it comes to a sustainable form of organisation, but also how countries in Europe and also countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal have already taken a lot of steps into this direction.
The second Panel discussion looked into “Deep Cultural Connections and Regional Tourism Ecosystems”. The chair was taken by Victor Xu of the TMGS China, who has been working since more than 25 years in Chinese outbound tourism especially to Germany. The participants of the panel were Catherine Germier, the CEO of Millennium Destinations and former CEO of Destination Mekong, Sudarshan Chapagain, the Vice President of Soaltee Hotel Group in Nepal and Teresa Siles Suarez, the representative of Turespana in Guangzhou.
Victor Xu as chair made the panelists think hard about how regional tourism ecosystems can be build, an area in which especially Catherine Germier could give a lot of example about the possibilties but also the challenges such an endevour faces. The statements about Southeast Asia, Nepal and Spain, on the surface very different kinds of destination, brought to the light the many similarities in the work on connecting cultural experiences with growing numbers of visitors.