On the evening of March 31,a tour group consisting of 31 German tourists arrived in Nanjing to go on a spring tour in this ancient capital of China.It has also been the largest inbound tour group from Europe that Nanjing has received since 2020.
“Sehr schön (so beautiful)! At 21:30 on the day they arrived, those German tourists took the Qinhuai River Painted Boat along the 2500-meter route east of the Qinhuai River. Watching the colorful Qinhuai lights on both sides of the bank and the sparkling Qinhuai River at their feet, they felt very excited and gave out spontaneous cheers.
“I am so deeply impressed by the extremely beautiful lights and lighting environment of Nanjing at night. I would also like to thank Nanjing for its thoughtfulness and hospitality. This is not only my personal feeling, but the voice of the entire tour group.” said Paul, a German tourist.
“ There are 25 tourists aged over 60 in this group. During their stay for two days and one night in Nanjing, they visited the Qinhuai River, the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty Scenic Area, the Ming Dynasty City Wall, experienced local intangible cultural heritage, and tasted delicious food... They were offered the chance to fully appreciate the profound cultural and historical heritage as well as the modern fashion style of this ancient city.” said Zhou Yan, General Manager of the Inbound Center of China International Travel Service (Jiangsu), the local travel agency receiving the group. On the second day, the tourists were arranged to go for a city walk on the Ming City Wall, take photos with the “I Love Nanjing” photo-taking box, experience Nanjing’s characteristic intangible cultural heritage such as paper-cutting and Chinese yo-yo, watch Yueju opera performances, and conduct close exchanges with Yueju opera artists.
In November last year, China decided to expand the scope of unilateral visa-free countries on a trial basis to holders of ordinary passports from six countries including Germany. From December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024, inbound ordinary passport holders from the above-mentioned countries for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends with a stay no more than 15 days, as well as transit passengers from the above-mentioned countries can enter China without a visa. After this favorable policy was introduced, local travel agencies sped up their efforts to organize German inbound groups to visit Nanjing.
This 31-person German tour group was the largest inbound tour group from Europe that Nanjing had received since 2020. “For German tourists, Nanjing is an ancient capital with both an abundance of historical and cultural heritage and high-quality natural landscapes. In addition to the wide options of tourist sites, the city also provides an excellent tourism experience on the whole.” Zhou Yan said that they had received a large number of inbound tour groups from Germany since the fourth quarter of last year, including business groups, private customized tour groups, and small tour groups that had individualized demands, as well as tour groups organized by German travel agencies. Those tour groups stayed in Nanjing for 1 or 2 nights.
This group tour was organized by Trendtours, a well-known German wholesaler of Chinese travel routes. At the invitation of the Jiangsu (Nanjing) European German-speaking Area Promotion Center, Trendtours visited Nanjing last year and had discussions with Nanjing inbound travel agencies. Highly recognizing Nanjing’s tourism resources and products, it immediately started planning Nanjing-related group tour products. This group tour was the first Nanjing-related tour product launched by the company this year. It plans to organize 50 group tours throughout the year and the schedule is currently fully packed until May.
The reporter learned from Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau that, Germany has been the largest source of European inbound tourists visiting Nanjing, and Nanjing has always attached great importance to in-depth promotion in Germany and German-speaking areas. At the beginning of this year, Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau officially resumed the European German-speaking Area Promotion Center project. On March 5-7, the center participated in the International Tourism Exchange (ITB), the world’s largest tourism trade fair, in Berlin, Germany on behalf of Nanjing. On March 7, the center and the German Association for Travel Writers (Vereinigung Deutscher Reisejournalisten, VDRJ), an important German media organization, jointly promoted Nanjing tourism to 48 media representatives at the 2024 Media Awards Breakfast held by VDRJ.
Li Jia, Director of Foreign Exchange and Cooperation Division of Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that China had actively offered visa-free travel to nationals from many countries, which has continuously boosted inbound tourism. With the gradual expansion of the visa-free “ circle of friends”, Nanjing has witnessed significant improvement in its inbound tourism. From January to February this year, Nanjing received 51,500 inbound overnight tourists, with a year-on-year increase of 112.3%, which is very good news for Nanjing.
