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PR Newswire

Beijing Culture and Tourism Spearheads Post-COVID Travel Recovery with Global Online Strategic Forum: “Restart Travel, Together with Beijing”

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BEIJING, Sept. 18, 2020 — As the world enters a new era of international travel, Beijing Tourism is leading the way with a two-part online forum series, "Beijing Culture and Tourism Global Online Strategic Forum – Restart Travel, Together with Beijing." Held on 22-23 September 2020, the forum is aimed at tour operators and travel agencies who manage and sell travel to Beijing, destinations and tourism businesses around the world who can learn from Beijing’s examples, and others working in the tourism industry and travel media. Attendees will come away with a practical understanding of how Beijing is tackling many of the most challenging issues facing international tourism, and looking ahead to the future, by embracing new technology, creative solutions, and learning from past experience.

 

Beijing Culture and Tourism Spearheads Post-COVID Travel Recovery with Global Online Strategic Forum: "Restart Travel, Together with Beijing"
Beijing Culture and Tourism Spearheads Post-COVID Travel Recovery with Global Online Strategic Forum: "Restart Travel, Together with Beijing"

 

The forum brings together an expert lineup of more than 30 speakers from throughout the tourism industry, including leaders such as Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Lufthansa Group, TUI, PATA, WYSE Travel Confederation, Marriott, and many others.

Each session features six panel discussions and keynote presentations. These address questions of how tourism can bounce back from COVID-19, the future of business travel and the MICE sector, and the role of youth travel in global tourism recovery.

Keynote speeches include a presentation from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, and a Q&A session addressing Beijing’s challenges as a tourism destination. Each forum session finishes with a research report presentation from McKinsey on global prospects for tourism recovery.

"Beijing Tourism’s goal in building this platform is to welcome friends around the world to discuss how to restart travel – not only travel to Beijing, but on an international level. As we move forward to embrace the new normal together, our Forum will develop confidence within the global travel industry by showing how Beijing and China are successfully leading the recovery of tourism," said Wei Pang, Deputy Director General, Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, Department of Foreign Exchanges and Cooperation.

The event will be held from 4pm China Standard Time (CST) on Tuesday, 22 September, for attendees in Africa, Asia, and Europe. A second session from 8am CST on Wednesday, 23 September, is aimed at attendees in the Americas and Oceania. Both forum sessions will be recorded and available for playback.

Please visit http://traveltrade.visitbeijing.com.cn/forum to register and view the full program.

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PR Newswire

“Great Wall Heroes” Welcomes Future Visitors Back to Beijing with New 2020 Promotional Campaign

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BEIJING, Aug. 28, 2020 — On August 28, 2020, the "Great Wall Hero 2020—Visit Beijing Again" promotional event organized by Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau was held at Fortress Square, Badaling Great Wall Scenic Area. This event was supported by Yanqing District Cultural Tourism Bureau, Badaling Special Zone Administrative Center, Air China, and China Plus. It is one of a series of events in 2020 as part of the Beijing Great Wall Cultural Festival.

Ms. Pang Wei awarded official Great Wall Heroes the Great Wall Heroes 2020 certificates
Ms. Pang Wei awarded official Great Wall Heroes the Great Wall Heroes 2020 certificates

Ms. Pang Wei, Deputy Director-General of Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, reviewed the achievements of the Visit Beijing international social media campaigns since 2013. Visit Beijing actively promotes Beijing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Each year, the "Great Wall Heroes" global marketing campaign has invited foreign influencers to Beijing to experience the latest Beijing cultural tourism tours and products, as well as promoting Beijing through global social media platforms. The event has become an annual branding event for Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau’s overseas promotion campaigns. In the wake of COVID-19, this year’s "Great Wall Heroes" campaign had the new theme of "Visit Beijing Again." Long-term Beijing expat influencers were invited to take part in a panel discussion about post-COVID-19 tourism development.

The five influencers/panelists were: Mr. Jim Spear, co-founder and designer of two award-winning tourism businesses near Mutianyu Great Wall; Ms. Sarah Keenlyside, founder of Bespoke Travel Company, which offers tailor-made, immersive travel services to foreign tourists; Mr. Hayden Opie of Beijing Hikers, a hiking club that has been popular in Beijing for more than 10 years; Mr. Ignace Lecleir, owner and founder of TRB, awarded number one fine dining restaurant in the world by TripAdvisor in 2019; and Mr. Dominic De Couto of B Electric, which offers fun new ways to discover Beijing via e-bike.

At the end of the event, Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau presented the five foreign influencers with a certificate naming them "Great Wall Heroes" in recognition of their active efforts to promote Beijing and promote international cultural exchange.

In an interview, Ms. Pang Wei said that now that the COVID-19 outbreak in Beijing has been brought under control, the successful hosting of this event was of great significance to the future of cultural tourism in Beijing. Foreigners in Beijing were invited to visit the Great Wall and join the live stream, with the hope of helping people around the world to get to know China again after COVID-19 and find out how Beijing’s tourism market has recovered. The event also launched Beijing’s latest Great Wall Cultural Tours project, with the goal of laying a solid foundation for the recovery of inbound tourism after COVID-19.

After the event, the guests experienced the newly-launched Badaling Great Wall Night Tour, which was also live-streamed from Visit Beijing’s Facebook page. It is hoped that these promotional campaigns will embody and carry forward the spirit of the Great Wall, use the Great Wall culture as a link to tell Chinese stories, and promote cultural exchanges between China and the world.

PR Newswire

West China’s lake city Wanzhou awaits tourists with much to offer

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WANZHOU, China, Aug. 28, 2020 — Wanzhou District of west China’s Chongqing Municipality is a lake city, and it made a splash in the evening of Aug. 27 with a livestreaming show put on to promote its tourism and culture products. Livestreamed in 12 online platforms, the show gained 35.42 million views and 11.27 million likes with Wanzhou’s beautiful landscape and rich resources, according to the Publicity Department of Wanzhou District.

Located in the heart of the Three Gorges reservoir area, Wanzhou boasts a long history and profound culture, and has been the place attracting scholars to stop by for appreciation since ancient times. In the past 1800 years, the Chongqing culture, the Three Gorges culture, the immigrant culture, the Anti-Japanese War culture and the revolution culture have met and merged in Wanzhou, creating a unique local culture.

In 2006, the grand Three Gorges Dam was completed. After impoundment, Wanzhou witnessed the emergence of a string of lakes. Later 29 city parks and 26 city squares were built in Wanzhou, forming an interconnected waterfront space. A new city with lakes, mountains and tall buildings accompanying each other came into being. In 2016, Wanzhou’s lake landscape was rated as one of the top ten new tourist attractions of the new Three Gorges.

When people come to Wanzhou, they must visit the three important landmarks. The Western Hills bell tower, which has been standing on the banks of the Yangtze River for nearly a century, is an impressive combination of Chinese and Western styles. It still rings on time. The Ba Du power plant was built and then provided power support to the industrial and mining enterprises that moved in 80 years ago. The plant’s old units are still generating electricity. The ruins of Tiansheng Ancient City, which survived the Anti-Yuan War in the late Southern Song Dynasty, occupied an important position in Sichuan’s city defense system and the history of the Song and Yuan wars.

The Chongqing Three Gorges Immigrant Memorial Hall is another must-go place in Wanzhou. It keeps a complete record of the history of Three Gorges immigrants and the construction of the reservoir area. A few days ago, the museum, together with Fujian Gutian Conference Memorial Hall and Hebei Xibaipo Memorial Hall, was selected as the first batch of pilot units on revolution culture as part of a national project to preserve and promote Chinese national culture.

The Wanzhou Waterfall is also worth visiting. It is called the first waterfall in Asia. The waterfall is 151 meters wide, 64.5 meters high and covers an area of 9739.5 square meters. It is one of the few waterfalls that can be viewed from all angles.

There are three popular local food: Wanzhou noodles, steamed food and roasted fish. In 2018, Wanzhou was officially recognized as the hometown of grilled fish in China.

Besides, Wanzhou is a good place to buy gifts related with the Three Gorges. The unique climate of the lakes in the Three Gorges nourishes rich Wanzhou produce, such as the local citrus, plums and tangerines sent to the space for breeding. The wooden comb brand Carpenter Tan is well known, so are the crisp and refreshing pickled mustard tuber in Yuquan and the spicy beef jerky. The Three Gorges embroidery and stones are quite distinctive while local Tiancong tea and Shixiantaibai liquor boast a lingering aftertaste.

The water town has witnessed longstanding peace and prosperity, echoed by the loud and exciting working songs in the old days and now by arias of slow life. In Wanzhou, one can walk in the streets for a taste of the thousand-year elegance of the Xishan Monument and the Tiansheng Ancient City. A stroll by the river bank to watch the sunset in the Western Hills or the morning light shining above forests is another good choice. Sailing on the lake to enjoy the night views and rippling waves is also recommended.

Wanzhou has always prioritized ecological conservation to boost green development. By seizing the opportunity to build the Chengdu–Chongqing economic circle, Wanzhou is making every effort to build a regional central city and an economic center in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. It also plans to grow into a tourist distribution center and an important destination in the Great Three Gorges Reservoir Area by promoting its geographical advantages in the Three Gorges tourism as well as development prospects.

For more information, please visit http://www.wz.gov.cn/.

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http://www.wz.gov.cn

PR Newswire

Linking Hangzhou: Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV and Tourism Launches Live-Streamed International Roadshow

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HANGZHOU, China, Aug. 8, 2020 — On the afternoon of August 7, Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV and Tourism launches the "Linking Hangzhou" international roadshow online, in a bid to enhance the global influence of Hangzhou as a "new economy conference destination." While presenting a new chapter of the cosmopolitan metropolis, it also envisions the revival of Hangzhou’s cultural and tourism industries in the post-COVID-19 era. The event leverages live-streaming platforms and online video conferencing technology at home and abroad, and simultaneously promotes Hangzhou’s MICE resources to customers worldwide for the first time. It not only demonstrates the vitality of Hangzhou as a "new economic conference destination," but also showcases the infinite potential of Hangzhou, a historically and culturally famed city with ever-lasting charm, as it embraces the future. At the same time, the event also invites 37 Singaporean MICE customers to join Hangzhou-based enterprises in online business negotiations in an endeavor to promote the city’s new image and attract more international conferences.

Highlight 1: Hangzhou’s First Online International Promotion in the Post-COVID-19 Era

The "Linking Hangzhou" international roadshow is an exploratory measure of Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, TV and Tourism, which for the first time live-streams its MICE promotion worldwide. Having adapted to the post-COVID-19 era, the bureau advertises Hangzhou’s strengths and resources as a new economy conference destination to the world through Dingtalk, BizConf Video and social network platforms such as Facebook and YouTube. With the help of digital technology, the bureau is dedicated to launching local cultural and tourism industries onto a new journey of quality and efficiency improvement.

By breaking through the physical limitations of face-to-face communication and building a scenario-rich conference ecosystem, the bureau is leveraging the treasure trove of with intelligent digital technology to expand the boundary of meetings. To top off last year’s "Hello Hangzhou", China’s first large-scale immersive conference visualized with the most cutting-edge technology, this "Linking Hangzhou" promotion transcends the barrier of space and time and visualizes simultaneous connection through intelligent conferencing system, convening MICE practitioners worldwide for closed-door business negotiations online. The innovative event not only achieves customized matchmaking between MICE suppliers and customers in a more efficient way, but also gives a shot in the arm for the recovery of the cultural and tourism industries and the development of MICE industry.

In addition, the promotion video Time to Meet Hangzhou, which premieres globally, showcases the diversity of Hangzhou from four dimensions: comfortable lifestyle, cultural experience, booming industries, and creativity. Following the video three MICE products, including the exploration of new economy industry, traditional cultural experience, vibrant teambuilding and Hangzhou locals’ lifestyle, are presented to feature Hangzhou’s new image as a thriving city with traditional Chinese charm and vitality in the post-COVID-19 era.

Highlight 2: Exploring Hangzhou with Singaporean Experience Officer

Frankson Lee, General Manager of InterContinental Hangzhou and a Singaporean, is featured in a short clip as the experience officer who joins four local MICE suppliers to explore exciting MICE venues in Hangzhou and brings a "Singaporean perspective of Hangzhou." By diving into the infinite charm of MICE industry, Frankson takes the audience on a thrilling trip to discover Hangzhou’s latest MICE products.

His trip includes the introduction to Zhe school of qin, an intangible cultural heritage that amasses thousands of years of traditional Chinese culture; canoeing, a delightful, recreational teambuilding activity; a visit to Alibaba, a corporate champion that embodies Hangzhou‘ achievements in digital economy; and a visit to Chenghuang Pavilion which abounds with Hangzhou’s beauty and cultural heritage. At the half-century-old West Lake Guqin Society, Frankson learns the essence of Chinese music from Xu Junyue, an inheritor of the Zhe school of qin, and talks about poetic lifestyle in the melody of the instrument. Guided by Alibaba Group PR expert Zhang Yuan, Frankson pays a visit to Alibaba’s headquarters to discover its innovative corporate culture and management philosophy, and the unique charm of an international enterprise and representative of China’s new economic industry. On the beautiful Xianghu Lake, he ventures on a low-carbon aquatic trip and is given a glimpse to the passion and vitality that Hangzhou will offer in the 2022 Asian Games. In Chenghuang Pavilion at the peak of Mountain Wu, he gives a go at diancha under the guidance of Xu Zhigao, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage from Song Dynasty, and peeks into the integration of the past and the present. Hangzhou, as a MICE destination, captures the imagination of its visitors with ever-growing charm.

Highlight 3: Bridging Supply and Demand for Recovery

The roadshow also features the online matchmaking of 37 Singapore-based quality MICE customers with 31 MICE service providers in Hangzhou for potential cooperation in the future.  While enhancing the connection of both sides, their dialog on supply and demand has paved the way for the development of cross-border MICE cooperation in the post-COVID-19 era.

Singapore-based customers such as Experia Events Pte. Ltd., a former organizer of the Singapore Airshow, M.I.C.E. Matters, a professional MICE company with projects in over 30 countries, and TLC Events Pte. Ltd., a front-running digital MICE company, along with the representatives of high-caliber enterprises and associations, such as Autodesk Asia, SiS Asia and Hemispheres Foundation, attend the event. During the one-hour business negotiation, they join Hangzhou-based MICE service providers in 3 rounds of interviews, which expands the international market of Hangzhou’s MICE industry and fuels the city’s new takeoff as an international conference destination with new business opportunities presented in real-time interaction.

 

PR Newswire

Priceless Artifacts in Iraq Protected Against Theft Using New SmartWater ‘Forensic Fingerprinting’

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LONDON, May 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Hundreds of thousands of priceless artifacts in several museums in Iraq have been protected from the threat of theft and looting by marking them with a unique invisible code, in a new security protocol that is to be made available around the World to protect ‘at risk’ museums, historic and archaeological sites.

Invisible to the naked eye, SmartWater glows yellow under UV black light.
Invisible to the naked eye, SmartWater glows yellow under UV black light.

Funded by the British Council, approximately 273,000 artifacts held in two Iraqi museums have been protected using this new approach. The project allows the priceless objects to be traced back to the site they were stolen from, making it easier for law enforcement agencies to prove theft, thereby creating a powerful deterrent to would-be thieves and traffickers.

The innovative project, led by renowned archaeologist Professor Roger Matthews at the University of Reading, utilizes a specially prepared SmartWater forensic liquid to attach a unique chemical signature onto museum objects. The solution is invisible to the naked eye, only detectable under UV black light and scientists only need to recover a speck of SmartWater to prove which location the artifact was stolen from, the date the solution was applied and by whom.

Tests by scientists at Reading University established that the forensic liquid causes no damage to stone, pottery, metal, or glass and can withstand intense heat, harsh solvents, and extreme environmental conditions for decades. All the costs of R&D were funded by the SmartWater Foundation, the not for profit arm of The SmartWater Group, one of the World’s fastest growing risk management companies.

Professor Matthews said: “The items in the museum collections we worked with are priceless, with regards to the immense cultural value they offer to Iraq. This initiative effectively gives objects a chemical fingerprint, allowing them to be traced if they fall into the wrong hands. Moreover, it provides law enforcement agencies with the necessary evidence to arrest and prosecute those found in illegal possession of artifacts.”

The artifacts include inorganic pieces from all periods of Iraq’s past; stone-age axes to Neolithic pots dating back to 7000 BC when the world’s first agricultural villages were being established. In 2003, and during the ISIS occupation of Mosul between 2014 and 2017, items like this were frequently looted from museums, later resurfacing on international antiquity markets.

The problem of theft of artifacts from museums, archaeological and historic sites is growing, with temples in India being targeted, as well as archaeological sites in South America. In the USA, Native American sites are at risk, particularly the remote burial grounds that can be an easy target for thieves.

Colette Loll, Senior Advisor to the SmartWater Foundation, the not for profit arm of the SmartWater Group. said: ‘Due to their SmartWater forensic signature, these important museum collections are now traceable and can be repatriated if stolen or trafficked. We are essentially putting the art market on notice – forensic markers present a real risk to sellers AND buyers of stolen artifacts.”

Phil Cleary, CEO of the SmartWater Group said “We’re delighted that we’ve been able to support the implementation of this important initiative in Iraq, as it is totally aligned with our mission to reduce the risk of  theft, wherever it occurs.”

Notes to Editor:

Photo – https://techent.tv/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/priceless-artifacts-in-iraq-protected-against-theft-using-new-smartwater-forensic-fingerprinting-1.jpg  
Logo – https://techent.tv/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/priceless-artifacts-in-iraq-protected-against-theft-using-new-smartwater-forensic-fingerprinting.jpg