□ Nanjing Daily/Zijinshan Journalist Li Zijun
Enjoy the exquisite beauty of Jiangnan gardens in Xuyuan Garden, and feel the long history of Jinling culture on the Ming City Wall. From May 15 to 16, a group of tourists from the United States, Russia and other countries and regions came to Nanjing to explore the culture after holding the industry conference.
With the continuous expansion of China's visa free "circle of friends", Nanjing is becoming a "fan circle" in the world with a high "beauty" of the landscape city and a good "temperament" of the world's literary capital. In the first quarter of this year, Nanjing received 96300 inbound overnight tourists, an increase of 115% over the same period last year.
Immigration Club Award Tourists Fall in Love with "Ning"
"Very beautiful!" Yesterday, the travel group of 100 people entry award organized by Zhongxin Tourism Group climbed the mountain where Jiming Temple is located, overlooking the lush Zijin Mountain, overlooking the rippling Xuanwu Lake, and under the foot of the 600 year old Ming City Wall, the beauty of Nanjing's "landscape city forest" can be seen. Tourists from the United States, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and other countries and regions have expressed their admiration.
These tourists are all employees of a well-known foreign company. After attending the conference in Nanjing, they visited the "Presidential Palace", Xuyuan Garden, Jiming Temple, Ming City Wall, Dabaoen Temple Site Scenic Spot, Laomen East and other places, and also experienced the tea art of Yuhua tea and tasted Nanjing style snacks. Most of the members of the team came to Nanjing for the first time. After a two-day cultural search trip, they felt that Nanjing was a city that surprised and appreciated them. They all said that "Nanjing will be included in the next travel plan first".
"The group fee of the inbound tourism group is three or four times that of the general inbound tourism group." Ning Guoxin, vice president and chief administrative officer of Zhongxin Tourism Group, told reporters that "the travel of the inbound tourism group" refers to the special tourism activities carried out by enterprises to reward outstanding employees, dealers or agents by taking advantage of the opportunities of holding various conferences, conferences and exhibitions. The "award tour group" has a very high added value of consumption and is at the top of the "pyramid" in the tourism market.
More and more overseas tourists go to Nanjing
Since this year, more and more people around the world have called out "Go to Nanjing!" to meet "Ning".
From March 31 to April 1, a group of 31 German tourists came to Nanjing and embarked on a two-day and one night "Spring Tour in Ancient Capital". This is the largest European inbound tourist group that our city has received since 2020.
On April 6, an in-depth tour group composed of 26 Singaporean tourists arrived in Nanjing, opening their three-day and two night "Spring Festival Appointment" with the beautiful ancient capital.
Feel the Qinhuai River in the light and sound of oars, and experience calligraphy and tea art in the "study" of the Ming City Wall.
From May 13 to May 18, an investigation group organized by China International Travel Service (Jiangsu) International Travel Agency, a key American travel agent, came to Nanjing to carry out a 6-day in-depth tour in Nanjing.
This year, more and more tourists from all over the world come to appreciate the fame, touch the historical context of Nanjing on the city wall, feel the fireworks in the Qinhuai River, appreciate the essence of traditional culture in the intangible cultural heritage experience, feel the cultural heritage in the "attractive" museums, and start a journey of ancient capital discovery in the city walk
"Since March this year, the number of tourists we have received from Germany, France, Italy and Spain has increased significantly, and our business in emerging markets such as South America has also made gratifying breakthroughs." The relevant person in charge of China International Travel Service (Jiangsu) introduced.
"At present, the number of inbound tour groups received by our company has recovered to the level basically equal to that in 2019, and the source of tourists mainly come from Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries and regions," said Liu Liang, the immigration manager of Jiangsu Kanghui International Convention and Exhibition Co., Ltd.
The number of inbound overnight tourists doubled year-on-year in the first quarter
Since last year, China's visa free "circle of friends" has been expanding, and the inbound tourism market in Nanjing has continued to heat up.
Last year, China tried to expand the scope of unilateral visa free countries, and from December 1, it tried to implement a unilateral visa free policy for ordinary passport holders in six countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. From February 9 this year, the agreement signed by China and Singapore on mutual visa exemption for ordinary passport holders came into force. From March 1, the agreement signed between China and Thailand on mutual visa exemption for ordinary passport holders came into force. Since March 14, China has implemented a visa free policy for ordinary passport holders in Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg on a trial basis
"Let's take the Thai guests in the award tour group as an example. Previously, if we organized him to travel to Ning Hui Award, we had to send an invitation letter a month in advance, and he would take it to the embassy to apply for a visa. After visa free, the guests directly got on the plane with their passports and tickets." Ning Guoxin said that at present, the most obvious benefit of visa is the guests on business trips, It can be said that "go at will".
"Our company used to be mainly engaged in outbound tourism, and began to arrange inbound tourism at the end of the year before last. I didn't expect the market to be so good! At present, we receive inbound tourists from more than ten countries and regions, not only the number is increasing, but also the quality is improving, and the 'gold content' is very high," Ning Guoxin said.
As early as last May, the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism launched a brand new city culture and tourism brand promotion activity, "visitors in the city · walking cultural capital", to invite the world. Zhongxin Tourism Group is one of the main units in charge of the brand marketing activities of "visitors in the city". Ningguo New introduced that at present, the two routes under the brand of "visitors in the city" have been fully launched to the market, and it is expected to increase the number of domestic and overseas award customers with thousands of people in Nanjing every year.
The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism said that in the first quarter of this year, Nanjing received 96300 inbound overnight tourists, an increase of 115% over last year, and realized a tourism foreign exchange revenue of 164 million dollars, an increase of 81.2% over the same period last year. In the second quarter, the inbound tourism in Nanjing continued to increase. In May alone, nearly 10 tour groups from Spain, Italy, Singapore and other countries visited Nanjing.
