A tourism promotion event for Yunnan was held in Geneva

On the afternoon of the 13th, the multi-functional hall of the Kempinski Hotel by Lake Lemmon in Geneva was filled with a strong Chinese ethnic flavor. The "Yunnan Tourism Promotion Conference" organized by the Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission was being held here. Representatives from the Geneva Tourism Board, the Geneva Economic Development Agency, Geneva Airport, the Swiss-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and other institutions, as well as 35 Chinese and Swiss tourism enterprises attended.

Yunnan and Switzerland: Similar yet complementary

Geographically speaking, Switzerland and Yunnan share many similarities: snow-capped mountains, forests and lakes, weaving a beautiful natural picture that makes people reluctant to leave. Perhaps it is precisely because of this innate similarity that a special bond has been forged between the two places. In 1982, Kunming City, Yunnan Province and Zurich, Switzerland, established a sister city relationship. In 2001, the famous Swiss snow-capped mountain Matterhorn and the Yulong Snow Mountain in Lijiang, Yunnan Province, became sister mountains. In 2012, Shangri-La County in Yunnan Province and the city of Arosa in Switzerland became sister cities. Switzerland's status as a world financial center, along with its developed and mature tourism and service industries, offers many valuable references for Yunnan.

In recent years, the tourism exchanges between the two sides have shown a favorable trend. In 2012, Yunnan Province received nearly 5 million international tourists and has become an important tourist destination for overseas visitors to China. Among them, the number of tourists from Switzerland visiting Yunnan reached 103,000, accounting for 15% of the total number of European tourists visiting Yunnan. It ranks second only to France among European countries and has gradually become an important source of tourists for Yunnan Province.

New opportunities for tourism cooperation

In July this year, China and Switzerland officially signed a free trade agreement, which has brought new opportunities for deepening cooperation between the two countries. It is against this backdrop that the Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission has launched this tourism promotion campaign for three European countries, namely Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. The aim is to further enhance mutual understanding between Yunnan and European countries in terms of tourism resource development, product promotion and service improvement, and to explore and seek new ways for tourism cooperation between the two sides.

Duan Yueqing, director of the Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission, said that this trip to Europe was quite rewarding. The delegation held separate discussions with relevant tourism management institutions and enterprises in Hungary, Austria and Switzerland, and reached a series of consensations on strengthening tourism information exchange, project investment, market expansion and other aspects. For instance, the Hungarian National Tourism Board is interested in providing technical support for the development of hot spring tourism products in Yunnan. The two sides have also reached a preliminary agreement on the Hungary-China Cultural and International Exchange Foundation going to Yunnan to shoot a promotional video. We have signed a tourism investment cooperation agreement with a Swiss enterprise and plan to build a Swiss-style resort in Yunnan. Authorize Swiss Tiantan Sifang Co., Ltd. as the first tourism promotion and marketing agency of Yunnan Province in Europe, in order to enhance the development efforts of the tourism market in Central Europe. He believes that the tourism cooperation between Yunnan and Europe will have a broader prospect.