Sept. 26 – For the third consecutive year, the Chinese magazine “Travel & Leisure” has named Italy the preferred destination for its readers’ holiday travels. It is therefore not accidental that ENIT – the National Tourism Agency – decided to open a new office at the Ging Guang Centre in Beijing. “The Agency’s seeks to become a point of reference for the work of tour operator and the Chinese press in view of Expo 2015 – said the Director General of ENIT, Andrea Babbi – The data speaks clearly: in 2012, they were 83 million Chinese traveling the world, this year it will be 90 million, and according to the World Tourism Organization, they will be over 100 million in 2015. The Chinese presence in Italy amounted to 4 million in 2012, almost double compared to 2011, and they spent €316 million (+29 %) according to the Bank of Italy.” In general, the 2012 ranking for the most popular tourist destinations in the world, Italy is in 5th place, both for international arrivals (46.4 million) and foreign exchange revenue ($41.2 billion), confirming the 2011 ranking in which Italy follows France, the USA, China and Spain. At the inauguration ceremony for the new headquarters, many important figures were present, including: the Director General of ENIT, the director of the Beijing office, Autilia Zeccato, the Director of ENIT Tokyo, Riccardo Strano, the minister counselor, David Giglio, the consul Massimo Gaudiano, the director of ICE Beijing, Antonino La Spina, and representatives of the Chinese trade and press.
