Technological innovations and smaller destinations gain importance for the Chinese Outbound Tourism Market

In a ceremony held during the first ITB China in Shanghai on May 12th, 2017, COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute announced the winners of the CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Awards 2017.

The CTW Awards have been organised by COTRI since 2004. More than 100 tourism service providers, Destination Management Organisations, National Tourism Organisations, retailers, marketing and communication companies and others involved in the Chinese outbound tourism source market have been awarded with the CTW Award to date. CTW Awards are recognised inside and outside China as the most important quality sign for the international Chinese outbound market, with wide coverage in print and electronic media.

Taking place for the 14th time, the CTW Awards were presented during an event at the ITB China. The international jury in 2017 had to evaluate more applications than ever before. The selected gold, silver and bronze CTW Awards were given to private companies and governmental institutions from almost all continents and from many different segments of the industry.

Companies offering high-tech solutions for booking and payment played a bigger role than ever before, reflecting the growing importance of online and mobile applications. Another clear trend is the increased creativity of companies and organisations from smaller destinations, which find innovative way to put themselves onto the mental map of the Chinese travellers.

This year's CTW Awards winners were drawn from around the world, originating from countries as diverse as Uganda, Bulgaria, Indonesia and Morocco.

As every year, CTW Awards were given in five categories: Product Innovation, Internet/Media, Service Quality, Marketing and Overall Performance. 2017 saw the CTW Award ceremony held at ITB China in Shanghai for the first time.

"The low hanging fruits have been picked already," said Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, Director of COTRI, who chaired the CTW Award ceremony. "Now a deeper understanding of the different market segments and their needs and expectations is necessary. Fortunately the large number of interesting applications to this years' CTW Awards are showing that service providers around the world have taken up the challenge and are offering best-practice examples to follow. It has never been harder to select the CTW Award winners among the many high-quality applications."

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