Oct. 17 – The Chinese love Veneto and in the future this “love” will continue to grow: the number of Chinese guests in tourist destinations of the region has grown this year with rates of 23%. “The absolute figures are still relatively limited – said Marino Finozzi, regional councilor for tourism – but the annual growth rates are constant and tourists from China rank, in the first seven months of 2013, sixth for arrivals and twelvth for presence, with very significant growth prospects. We thus want to focus more strongly in the BRIC countries – Finozzi explains – with specific initiatives to promote tourism incoming. The regional government in this regard has formally approved my proposal to fund an initial series of training programs on how to approach these promising markets.” The first incoming program will be carried out by the Vicenza Tourist Promotion and Marketing Consortium, who has become a leader of the Tourist Consortia interested in the Chinese market and who will receive a €130,000 compensation. The starting point will therefore be an information – training – awareness campaign for Veneto companies interested in hosting tourists from China, who have different needs and expectations from traditional guests from Western Europe, on which tourism enterprises in Veneto have set the their training and structures. There will be seminars organized by the Italy-China Foundation, which adheres to the region as a partner and is the main participant to the China Training Program. A mark of quality will be given to facilities fitted to welcome Chinese tourists, who have adapted to the quality standards required by tour operators from China. They will also organize educational tours for representatives of the Chinese media and guided tours in Veneto for the tourist operators. They will also prepare selected tourist guides in Chinese.
