Following the successful premiere of the ITB China Industry Meetup Events in 2020, and traveller confidence recovering swiftly in China, the ITB China organisers have announced plans to launch an ITB China Special Edition in 2021.

The two-day business event will make its debut in Beijing from 7-8 May 2021, to deliver an innovative showcase for business exchanges while providing a stage for sharing industry insights for the travel industry. The regular edition of ITB China 2021, together with the accompanying ITB China Conference in Shanghai, is being rescheduled to 24 – 26 November 2021.

“Fueled by promising news about vaccine developments, we all anticipate upward trends in 2021. The way to real market recovery, however, will be a steady and gradual one that our industry will have to walk jointly in order to reach a post-pandemic new normal,” said David Axiotis, general manager of ITB China.

“ITB China successfully kicked off the journey to recovery for its partners in China by premiering the ITB China Industry MeetUp event series in six key regions across China over the past three months. As the next major milestone, ITB China is once again leading the way with a tailor-made event format, the ITB China Special Edition 2021. Taking place in Beijing in spring next year, we expect a promising outlook on cross-border travel and emerging business opportunities at that time. Lastly, ITB China 2021 in Shanghai is set to once again serve as the leading platform to connect with the world’s largest travel source market, strategically rescheduled to the end of the year, paving the way for a strong rebound of the industry in 2022,” he added.

The ITB China Special Edition in Beijing is a newly designed and hybrid event format that will feature two exclusive prescheduled meeting sessions with hand-selected Chinese buyers, representing the whole bandwidth of leisure, MICE, corporate and travel technology. A total of 1,500 participants are expected to join networking events to establish new valuable contacts, as well as attend an extensive series of content sessions by C-level industry experts, focusing on new traveller demands and travel trends.

Additionally, the hybrid character of the event will be set up for those professionals who are not able to attend in person. Suppliers will be offered a solution for remote participation with an easy-to-exhibit package. The keynote speeches and panel discussions during the conferences will be made available to a global audience online through instant live streaming, while simultaneous artificial intelligence-based translation in different languages will be offered for all content sessions.

ITB China, the largest B2B exclusive travel trade show in China, set to take place in November in Shanghai, will keep revitalising business relations between the Chinese and global travel industry during and after this major transformation of the market, and help global suppliers and Chinese agencies to quickly chart the newly developed travel business landscape in China.