Winter is cold, but the winter of 2008 in which the current financial crisis makes it even harder to make ends meet, is a challenging time for many. Christmas is usually a good period for all types of business, including travel, but this year people from all over the world are tightening their belts. Peter Waller, is the Group Director of Mergers & Acquisitions with Thomas Cook, the second biggest tourism company in the world.

"It's affecting Britain, Germany, all the companies we are operating, what we tend to observe is to slow down the..."

Also in China, the tourism market has weakened due to natural disasters in the early months and the current financial crisis.

For the first ten months of 2008, Beijing received only about 3.3 million inbound tourists staying overnight in the city, a decrease of over 11 percent year-on-year, according to the Beijing Tourism Administration.

In early December, tourism officials from home and abroad gathered at a Beijing Tourism Industry Development Forum to discuss the way out of this current crisis.

The capital's tourism industry received a big boost from the Beijing summer Olympics and has become a driving force behind the city's economic growth, Beijing vice Mayor Ding Xiangyang said.

"Tourism can solve many problems. It not only brings the investment, it also boosts consumption."

Statistics show that yearly tourism revenue currently accounts for about seven percent of Beijing's annual GDP. Vice Mayor Ding says the city hopes that number will soon reach ten percent.

To realize this goal, the government will take a series of steps, investing 78 billion RMB in 83 travel programs.

International tourism professionals are also invited to serve these travel programs as senior advisors, including Manny Fontenla-Novoa, Chief Executive Officer of the Thomas Cook Group, Paul Kennedy, Chairman of the Reed Travel Exhibition, and the President of Japan's JTB Corp, Tagawa Hiromi.

Graeme Barnett, Exhibition Director, Meetings & Incentive Events, is from Reed Travel Exhibitions who organizes a range of travel industry events for trade professionals around the world.

"Through our networks, we carefully select those people we have conducted business with in China, or have the ability to do business in China in the future. We invite them to the event, whether they are from America, Europe, Asia, we pay for their flights, hotel accommodation, transfers, basically they are our guests. We take care of their travel plans... "

Meanwhile, the forum also features a promotional event during which tourism officials from nine neighbouring regions in Bohai Sea rim, including Hebei and Shandong provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, will work together on developing regional tourism cooperation. Vice mayor Ding Xiangyang considers this a way to develop the tourism market.

"In the near future, Beijing will receive more and more tourists. The neighbouring cities of Beijing has contributed a lot during the Beijing Olympic Games, thus we have been thinking how to share the tourism resources with other cities."

More importantly, to promote regional tourism is an effective way to boost a steady economy. As an encouraging news, over 45 express way toll booths will be exempt between Beijing and Tianjin. Cross-regional tavellers will be able to forward their tour-related complaints beyond city borders. Neighbouring cities will also be better sharing tourism resources and gain a win-win situation.

With these new policies emerging to help boost the economy, difficult times can provide an opportunity to turn negatives into positives. Wu Hongjian is the director of Liaoning's provincial Tourism Administration.

"With the policy of boosting domestic economy adapted by the Chinese government, the regional and domestic tourism will be developed too. Also, due to the appreciation of RMB, the cost of outbound travels has decreased, and thus at such a time, there will be some positive effects on outbound tourism."

The cost of a trip to the U.S. has dropped to its lowest point in history, at about 12,000 yuan only, and to Australia is 9,999 yuan at its peak season.

Zhang Huiguang, Director of Beijing Tourism Administration, hopes to welcome back a boom in tourist numbers as soon as possible.

"Post- Olympic Beijing is still very attractive to foreign visitors, though the financial crisis does have an impact on tourism; people from home and abroad still have an interest in visiting Beijing. I want to encourage travellers to consider Beijing as their first travel destination."

(CRI December 16, 2008)