Italian State Tourist Board has launched its official Chinese website, yidalinihao.com, at the Italian Pavilion in Shanghai World Expo 2010.

Caterina Cittadino, the minister of the board, stated that China currently has more than 300 million netizens and and she expected thatmost of them would choose Internet to find tourism information they need. This website will show all aspects of Italy to attract more Chinese tourists, and also provide a platform enabling people to share their own travel experience.

The number of Chinese outbound tourists has been increasing in recent years, and Italy is a very popular choice among European destinations for Chinese. Statistics show Chinese tourists made about two million overnight stays in 2009, bringing EUR171 million tourism revenue to the country.

Yet according to an survey conducted by Italian National Institute for Tourism Research, about 33.3% of the Chinese respondents know little about Italy. This website will work as an innovative tool for communications between the board and Chinese tourists.

To promote Italian tourism, the board has set up an office in China, and will set up more in the future.