ACC Visited Guilin

On 21-24 April 2015, Mr. Tri Purnajaya, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division (ECTD), and the tourism officer Mr. Liu Xiaohu of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) visited Guilin and held meetings with Ms. Chen Lihua, Vice Mayor of Guilin City and Member of Standing Committee of Guilin Government, Mr. Lin Yejiang, Director-General of Tourism Development Committee, Ms. Zhou Ying, Director-General of Guilin Exhibition and Convention Bureau, Ms. Lin Na, President of Guilin Institution of Tourism (GIT).  

ACC was invited by the authority of Guilin in preparation for the upcoming 2015 Tourism Exhibition under the China-ASEAN Expo, co-hosted by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the People’s Government of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. ACC officials inspected the Exhibition Hall, and explored potential areas for cooperation and partnership. ACC also visited the GIT to strengthen cooperation and discussed ways on how to expand the partnership.

During the meeting with Vice Mayor Chen Lihua, Mr. Tri Purnajaya expressed his deep impression on natural beauty, rich history and vast potentials of Guilin. The 2015 CAEXPO Tourism Exhibition would play an important role to further enhance tourism cooperation between China and ASEAN. Vice Mayor extended her appreciation to ACC for its role as a supporting organization of the Tourism Exhibition and the contribution of ACC in preparation for the Exhibition. Taking into account Guilin’s competence and comparative advantages, Guilin Government was keen on strengthening the exchange and cooperation with ACC in order to benefit from the growing of ASEAN tourism market. 

During the discussion with Mr. Lin Yejiang and Ms. Zhou Ying, Mr. Tri Purnajaya said that Guilin was a traditional Chinese tourist destination that had enjoyed high popularity among ASEAN countries and the world. Guilin was regarded as a source of inspiration for ASEAN countries, hence, to enrich its tourism product supply and meet with the various demands of tourists by leveraging its advantages should be a priority area. The Muslim community accounts for a significant portion of the ASEAN population. Countries in the region have been eyeing to capture that market and develop new strategies to attract more Muslim tourists.  In light of this development, Mr. Tri Purnajaya advised Guilin to seize the opportunity and improve its tourism products and services related to this particular market.  

Mr. Lin briefed on the development of tourism products targeting Muslim market and their work of priority especially the promotion of direct flight between Guilin and more ASEAN cities and the facilitation of visa. Ms. Zhou updated on the matters relating to the Tourism Exhibition.

ACC officials joined a meeting with Ms. Lin Na and her faculty members to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation with ACC. GIT is one of the well-known institutes with experience and enjoys sound cooperation with ACC.

In 2014, ACC invited experts and lectures from GIT to take part in the Workshop on Capacity Building for ASEAN Professionals in Brunei and Indonesia. The trainings were successful and well received by the participants. According to the trainees, they were more familiar with the life and consumption custom of Chinese tourists and realized the shortage of their products and services, which would help them better develop tourism products and improve their services. According to Ms. Lin, GIT is the only training base for tourism personnel in ASEAN countries and has conducted 13 training sessions for government officials and tourism employees in ASEAN countries. GIT would like to strengthen cooperation with ACC to attract more ASEAN tourism employees to study in China and dispatch more tourism experts and teachers to ASEAN countries.