By Catherine Wood

BITE 2009 (Beijing International Tourism Exposition) was brought into full swing Thursday morning at the Beijing Exposition Center. The air was filled with excitement and anticipation as people wondered how the economic downtown would affect the tourism industry in the coming year.

Edward Liu, Managing Director at BITE, talked about the economic challenges facing the tourism industry in the upcoming months and how this has affected the expo. "Though, our overall number of vendors is down from last year, we have added 15 new countries in 2009 and feel like this is a great success." Last year the expo had 800 vendors, this year there were around 600.

All together there were 28 countries represented at BITE; places from as far away as Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic were represented. This gave countries a chance to really showcase their cultural traditions through architecture, dance, and music; showcasing premiere travel destinations all over the world.

Edward is very optimistic about the future of BITE, expecting a recovery in the tourism sector and an increase in the number of vendor bids next year. There is talk about expanding the show to more vendors, more locations, and possibly more days.

How are Domestic Tourism Markets handling economic concerns?

Gao Fu, Managing Director of the Lhaza Tourism Administration, said, "Tourism is a fragile industry, but we will fight through this, we are soldiers." His high optimism was shared by many of the vendors in the Expo, who anticipate a full recovery in China's tourism sector within the next couple of years.

Domestic locations that seem to be especially dependent on tourism, (like Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau) happily told China.org.cn that the tourism sector is not as bad as anticipated, but the numbers were still disappointing. Hainan, a province where tourism represents 8 percent of the GDP, reported that there has been no decline whatsoever in domestic travelers. However, international tourism (whose major target market includes Russia and South Korea) has dropped a dramatic 50 percent in the last year. In order to combat losses in the tourism sector, the local government has put together promotion teams and incentives.

Hainan is not the only tourism location that is playing around with incentive policies to boost tourism, Tibet is also investing much time and energy into the crippling sector.

For Tibet, tourism is a 'pillar industry' and makes up a whopping 20 percent of the annual GDP. Recently, an aggressive incentive policy has been instated to easy stress in the tourism sector and consists of three areas: raw capital, training, and help from the private sector.

One million yuan was injected into Tibet's tourism industry last year, and another one million yuan will follow this year. These funds go to subgroups like hotels and travel agents and encourage them to push Tibet as a 'number one travel destination' more than ever. There are also restructuring programs to retrain employees, aimed at local populations and fostering long-term growth of tourism. Tibet has also asked that local Tibetan attractions and destinations lower costs and admission fees, making a dream vacation to Tibet realistic, even on a tight budget.

More than ever, Tibet is working to showcase the diversity, reliability and hospitality or shares with the world. Their optimism and game plan is important because it promises long term growth as opposed to short-term capital injection.

Overseas Markets try to attract Chinese visitors

Egypt, interestingly enough, has pushed away from government support when it comes to aid policies that could cushion losses in the tourism sector. It only offers a 10 percent discount on Egypt Air for travelers from China. Dr. Nasser Adbel-Aal, Counselor of Tourism for Egypt in China, remarked that: Egypt is seen as a luxury destination for Chinese people, they are attracted to the rich, cultural history seen in places like the Temple of Carnac and Pyramids. The theme of their booth enchanted visitors with exotic dancing and offered a glimpse into what the Temple of Carnac would be like.

Tourism makes up 18 percent of Egypt's GDP and Egypt receives 12.8 million tourists annually. Egypt is pushing more and more to be a luxury destination, offering exotic services like playing golf at the Pyramids.

What are China's answers to tourism in a global recession?

A saving grace for Chinese tourism could be the World Expo 2010, hosted by Shanghai. Michael Ling, a 2010 Expo spokesperson, said "We are expecting over 10 million visitors to travel to Shanghai for the Expo next year, many from international locations." Shanghai is renovating their transportation system in anticipation of the large influx of people, adding subway lines and busses; they also expect to create many jobs from the Expo. "Our goal is to get Shanghai's name out there, and show the world our culture and what Shanghai has to offer," Ling added, showcasing Shanghai's opportunity for future success in tourism after the Expo is over is important.

For consumers that cannot seem to find the funds this year but are still suffering from the travel bug, www.1vir.com offers a clever solution: virtual tourism. This 'trip between dream and reality' allows consumers to virtually explore a corporate creation or a city all from the comfort of their own home. The most appealing part of the creation is the cost to the consumer, free.

"The idea behind this technology is that it gives people a peak at a city with the hopes of encouraging real tourism once their interests are peaked." This pioneer technology comes with a pretty price tag of around 1 million RMB for a small section, pending the amount of detail and resolution the investor requests. There are not enough samples currently to generate solid expected return rates thus far but, 1vr.com feels like the brand recognition and tech-savvy 3-D technology is the first step to a rebound in the tourism sector.