Following up from their June 2019 meeting regarding Chinese outbound tourism to the European 17+1 countries, Mr. Ilirjan Koxhioni, Chairman of EUCNC Albania, as well colleagues recently presented a cooperation proposal to the Hong Kong Association of China Travel Organisers (“H.A.C.T.O”) .
The presentation was very well received and the result of the successful cooperation proposal is that H.A.C.T.O made the final decision to undertake the 17+1 outbound tourism program. As such the program will be launched very shortly with the first tourists arriving soon thereafter.
Mr Koxhioni stressed the importance of the program for all parties and summarised its transformational aspects: “For over the past seven years, Chinese tourism to Europe has been focused on brand tourism. This has resulted in an imbalance with regard to tourism market development whereby the focus has been on a very limited band of Western Europe which has lead to tourism overload. Now that the tourism cycle is turning towards culture and leisure tourism, we are taking the opportunity to address this imbalance by leveraging off the unique cultural and leisure aspects of the 17+1 market . All parties have recognized the unlimited growth potential of the 17+1 market and that it offers outbound Chinese tourists unique experiences that they can share online with their friends and relatives in China.”