China is the biggest outbound tourism source market in the world with more than 100 billion US$ spent by 97 million travellers in 2013. How to attract this major market segment and how to turn Chinese visitors into satisfied customers who recommend destinations and tourism service providers to their friends and colleagues? COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute presented 15 answers to this important question in the form of 15 CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Awards.
 

Fair visitors and officials including the Minister of Tourism of Jamaica and several ambassadors witnessed presentations by the CTW Award winners, some of whom had travelled a long way to Beijing especially for the ceremony.
 

The international jury in 2014 had to evaluate more applications than ever before, reflecting the growing interest in the Chinese market. The selected gold, silver and bronze CTW Awards were given to private companies and governmental institutions from all continents and from all segments of the industry including also retailers and publishers.
 

“Chinese tourists travel to ever more diverse destinations and look increasingly for experience instead of sightseeing. This is also reflected in the variety of the CTW Award winners in 2014, which feature ICT solutions as well as specialised duty free companies, luxury hotel groups etc. as well as destinations which are not requiring anymore a visa from their Chinese visitors. The 11th anniversary of the CTW Award clearly showed the strength of the development and the optimism of the market.” said Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, director of COTRI, who chaired the CTW Award ceremony.

Some of winners had received long time support from China Business Network, i.e.:

1. Jamaica Tourist Board - Gold Award of Overall Performance

2. Gibraltar Tourist Board - Bronze Award of Overall Performance

3. Rwanda Development Board - Bronze Award of Internet/ Media