The Hubei provincial tourism bureau held a news conference on May 13 for the seventh Central China Tourism Fair (CCTF), announcing that the fair will begin on May 18 at the Wuhan International Expo Center.

The tourism fair will bring traders from all over the world, attracting travel agencies and enterprises from 24 domestic provinces and 11 foreign countries and regions, including the Philippines, South Korea, Tunisia and France.

In addition, most of the top 100 national travel agencies and the top agencies from more than 20 countries and regions, such as the US, Spain, Italy, Singapore, Japan, Thailand, India, and Russia, will also come to purchase tourist products from Hubei.

Lu Lingshou, deputy director of Hubei’s tourism bureau, said that some countries and regions will display and promote their products at CCTF.

A group of more than 60 people from Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture will participate in the exhibition and hold a promotion on May 19, with a performance of Japanese tea culture.

France Tourism Development Agency will take part in the fair for the first time, which is an important part of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and France.

This year's CCTF coincides with China Tourism Day, May 19, and organizers have set up seven sections: wonderful trip in China, international, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, intelligent tourism, tourism media creative planning, tourist spot trade, aviation, automotive and boats, and tourism products.

The exhibition hall covers an area of 15,000 square meters, with about 800 agencies and nearly 1,000 booths.

More than 200,000 visitors are expected to visit the exhibition, 30,000 of them industry professionals.

Edited by Nelly Min and Le Qin