The highly anticipated ITB China 2024 kicked off in Shanghai on Monday, with over 600 exhibitors from more than 80 countries and regions gathering at one of the world's leading travel fairs.
This year's event is themed "Thrive in Transformation, Reach New Heights. Together", which focuses on adaptability and innovation,with its sights on maximizing the booming Chinese travel market.
The annual three-day trade fair is complemented by a conference program and networking events. The event features 50 conferences with 100 well-known speakers, covering a wide range of topics including travel technology, China's inbound and outbound tourism, and a dialogue between China and Europe.
Highlights of this year's exhibition include thirteen new destinations on the show floor, such as Georgia, Hawaii, Morocco, Peru, and Romania.
"It's at the beginning, we are not having so many in this moment. But we are looking for bigger and bigger groups because we have the infrastructure, we have the hotels. And besides this, we have the activities made over there for you guys to come and visit us. So, in the next years hopefully the market will be bigger and bigger for sure," said Dan Cernaianu, representative of Holiday to Romania DMC.
One key development is Georgia and China introducing mutual visa-free policies on Tuesday, a milestone for the tourism industries of both countries.
"The hospitality of Georgian people is well known. And [in]the gastronomy culture and tradition we have reach, that's why we invite all international travelers to Georgia. We are participating [for] the first time in ITB China and we hope to interact and interest more people to visit Georgia," said Tinatin Zoidze, head of Tourism Department of Batumi, Georgia.
For the first time, ITB China will introduce a China Inbound Tourism section, inviting experts to explore opportunities for growing inbound travel in line with domestic and outbound trends. As one of the world's most important travel markets, China is regaining its momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic.
ITB China 2024 highlights booming market with new travel destinations
China's domestically developed C919 large passenger aircraft began flight transport service on two new routes on Sunday.
At 11:19 on Sunday, a C919 aircraft smoothly landed at the Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang City, the capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, from Shanghai in east China some 1,000 kilometers away, marking the C919's first commercial flight in northeast China. The airport celebrated the occasion with a water salute.
"The seats are very spacious, and the flight experience is excellent," said a passenger.
"Flying on a homegrown plane feels especially smooth. I took the inaugural C919 flight to Chengdu, and unexpectedly, within a year, more than a dozen routes have been launched. I think the airline operations in our country are particularly impressive," said another passenger.
The other new air route opened on the day for the C919 is the one from northwest China's Xi'an City to south China's Guangzhou City about 1,400 kilometers away.
The Xi'an-Guangzhou service became the third domestic air route operated from Xi'an to use the C919, following China Eastern Airlines' earlier introduction of this aircraft on its Xi'an-Beijing and Xi'an-Shanghai routes. This also means that the Xianyang International Airport in Xi'an has become a major airport in China in terms of flights performed by the C919.
Notably, China Eastern Airlines in January 2025 started using the C919 jetliner for regular flights between Shanghai in east China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the country's south -- which is the airline's first scheduled commercial flight service to Hong Kong using the C919.
The C919 is a narrow-body passenger aircraft with a maximum capacity of 192 seats. It is China's first self-developed trunk jetliner, built in accordance with international airworthiness standards and featuring independently registered intellectual property rights.
China initiated the C919 project in 2007, and it was developed by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC). The first C919 aircraft rolled off the production line in Shanghai in November 2015.
China's homegrown C919 aircraft begins to serve two new domestic air routes
