Beijing Tourism Market launched

THE first Beijing Travel and Tourism Market (BITTM) is taking place in Beijing, China from April 20 to 23, 2005. BITTM is a business-to-business travel and tourism show for both the inbound and outbound markets. The event will be attended by government officials, owners and managers of the largest Chinese tour operators and travel agents as well as industry specialists. The organisers, Rising Star Exhibitions (UK) and Beijing Topex Exhibition & Convention Company, estimate that 60 000 tourism specialists will attend and said that the event will be an opportunity to tap into the Chinese outbound market, which is worth $10bn (R64,4bn) and has a predicted growth rate of 29% a year. For more information e-mail: travel@bittm.com or visit www.risingstarexhibitions.com (Lucy Siebert)