Sardinia focuses on China to boost tourism

Cagliari - CITS (China International Travel Service), one of the most influential Asian tour operators in Italy, is looking to Sardinia as a destination to be included in holiday package tours to be sold as early as next spring. Zhang Chunlei is the general manager of the Chinese tour operator CITS, which was founded in 1954 and has 36 branch offices and a network of 1,400 travel agencies across the world. He met with Francesco Morando, Sardinia's regional councillor for Tourism, Handicrafts and Commerce, to lay the groundwork for a stable collaboration programme, which includes operator consortia and the island's airport network. During his visit to Sardinia, Zhang Chunlei was accompanied by the representatives of OrientLab, a contact office of the Chinese tour operator in Italy. According to a communique released by the regional administration, Sardinia could be part of CITS holiday packages in Italy: with a 10 - day holiday, at least three days could be spent on the island. The agreement includes the island's promotional campaigns, such as "Sardinia Endless Island", the regional administration's international motto. These campaigns are to be promoted through all direct and indirect channels of the Chinese tour operator. An educational tour, addressed to Chinese journalists and entrepreneurs coming from the major cities in Asia, will soon be organized in Sardinia in order to design the holiday packages. CITS, with its 8 international desks, reported a turnover of almost 3 billion euros in 2015, and was the official provider at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, at the Shanghai World Expo 2010 and at other major events. "The positioning [of Sardinia] on the Chinese market is one of our goals for 2017" underlined Councillor Morandi, "also thanks to the renewed interest that the Far East has towards the island following President Xi Jinping's visit last November. We have had excellent feedback in terms of visibility and requests for the same experience as the Chinese President had, and they are multiplying. Now is the time to establish stable relations with a giant company such as CITS to promote to incoming Chinese tourists. In the next few months, together with our operators, airports and other international partners, we will not let this opportunity pass us by," added Mr Morandi. (AGI). .