MICE CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

By Dr. Zuzana Adamson

DAY 1

The three-day ITB China trade fair in Shanghai under the brand Messe Berlin takes place in 2025 for the sixth time. The partner destination is Malaysia which promotes itself with the motto “Visit Malaysia 2026 – Truly Asia”.

The event features a 30% expansion in comparison with 2024, dramatically changing the demand for the format and shape of business travel, the sector is undergoing significant innovations, and at the same time it is providing new opportunities.

More than 700 exhibitors from 85 countries came to the exhibition grounds of the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre, as did 1,400 high quality buyers from China and many other countries, delegates and visitors – altogether about 20,500 attendees. It also facilitates over 38,800 highly valuable business meetings, establishing a new standard for industry engagement.

And this year, buyers and other delegates can see and meet exhibitors coming from new destinations, countries and companies including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brunei Darussalam, Colombia, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, cities and regions of Japan, Mexico City, Oman, Sarajevo, South Africa, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Hubei, and also Shanghai.

Our group of international B2B media was accommodated in the modern EVEN Hotel, located close to the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre. For guests that came to attend a trade fair, the EVEN Hotel offers all the comfort, although if you wish to iron your clothes, you need to proceed by “do it yourself” in a designated common room. I was informed that we would see more trends like this in Asia.

In the evening before the Grand Opening of the ITB China 2025, there was a Grand Opening Dinner in the luxurious meeting spaces of the Shangri-La Qiantan Shanghai Hotel, organised by this year’s partnering country Malaysia. Welcome speeches were given by the Honourable Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, Minister of Travel and Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia, then Xu Peng, Vice-Chair, World Tourism Alliance (WTA) and David Ruetz, the Senior Vice-President of Messe Berlin. As well as welcome speeches and a nice dinner including local specialities, delegates later spontaneously danced to the music of ABBA and other groups.

After the opening of ITB China 2025 on Tuesday 27 May 2025 with a traditional dance of dragons and ceremonial cutting of the ribbon,

there followed a VIP tour of the exhibition of the honourable guests including the Malaysian Minister of Travel and Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia YB Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, among others.

Our group of international B2B media was included in the group, so we visited creative and inspirational booths and presentations from Abu Dhabi, the EU (European Travel Commission representing mainly Eastern European countries, Germany and Switzerland – why? It is not a member of the EU), Egypt, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Spain, Morocco and more.

The ITB China Conference, recognised as China’s premier industry think tank, provided interesting panel discussions on topics such as: Where Chinese travellers love to go; Which destinations are trendy and attractive for Chinese travellers and why; How the demand in the travel sector changes; What are the main trends in travelling in general.

Some research in this area has shown that Chinese people no longer enjoy flying at a fast tempo, clicking buttons on their cameras nonstop in front of historic monuments, running to be able to see everything quickly. On the contrary, they request unforgettable moments with emotional impact, like for example participation at typical local events, or cooking lessons inspired by popular TV shows about cooking local specialities with celebrities.

For ITB China 2025 delegates, a rich and interesting programme was created by organisers, partners and enterprises. On the first evening, we attended Beijing Night, organised by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. The venue of the lovely event was the InterContinental Shanghai Pudong Hotel, which is superbly located in the Pudong quarter. Colourful non-alcoholic drinks, some artfully created specialities and delicious dishes as well as Peking duck were on the menu list, and next to it each participant had the opportunity to be creative as well: We could paint our own dragon, flying fish or a wooden person. Simply put, it was incredible creativity not only in food but also in activities. Some lucky ones were winners of a tombola and they won free stays in luxury hotels in Beijing and other attractive prizes.

The biggest obstacle for the Czech Republic to create fruitful tourism and business connections with China remains the visa policy. China continues building bilateral relationships with countries which include visits and travelling without a visa. For me, to get my visa for a ten-day trip to China took a long time, and there were several lengthy forms to fill (via online application) which were returned several times to correct errors.

I was ready to cancel the trip and write to the organisers that I would drop the trip this year because of all these issues, but the employees at Prague’s visa centre were brilliant, encouraging me to keep going. Not only was time spent, but also money: the visa for 10 days costs about €90.

Other countries in the European Union like Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and since the end of 2024 Slovakia as well enjoy travel relations without needing a visa. Germany keeps building bilateral relations in travel and tourism in the MICE sector and exchanges, the business sector in general, and so do other EU countries.

Why do we have the EU if visa policy remains an individual question for each country? Another good example of bilateral relations is Malaysia, country partner of ITB China 2025 as Malaysian organisations for promotion of travel and tourism work hard to establish bilateral relations with other countries. One of their policies is visa-free travelling between China and Malaysia: Chinese travellers can stay in Malaysia for up to 90 days without a visa. The effort to create visa-free cooperation has been a great success – an increase of travel and tourism in both directions. What to say in the end? Hopefully the Czech government can start to do something as well, as China is a lovely, inspiring destination, and there are many things to share.