From July 26 to 31, a delegation of tourism officials and representatives of tourism enterprises of Sichuan visited Austria and Czech, where they carried out the “Beautiful China, more than pandas” tourism promotional campaign.

The delegation was led by Chen Jialin, an official of Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Committee.

The campaign, featuring giant panda and Sichuan cuisine, was well received by those in the tourism industry, the general public and mainstream media in both Vienna and Prague, sparking a desire in local people to travel to Sichuan.

In the Hilton Hotel in Vienna, people dressed like giant pandas attracted a great deal of interest from diners at the hotel when the promotional stage was being set.

On the day of the promotion, the setting at the scene, including the striking Panda Logo on the signpost, over 100 toy pandas in various positions, the display of Sichuan’s tourism resources in and outside of the promotional venue, and the playing of a promotional video of Sichuan’s latest tourism products, made the Australian participants feel they were in Sichuan.

Chen Jialin sent a warm invitation to those in Austria’s tourism industry and travel enthusiasts to visit Sichuan on the occasion attended by nearly 100 people.

Representatives of Austrian travel services showed keen interest in Sichuan’s tourism products, taking notes seriously from time to time. They were still exchanging name cards and other contacts and talking intently with members of the Sichuan delegation at the scene almost one hour after the promotion concluded.

In Vienna’s Sichuan Restaurant, Chen Jialin awarded a plaque bearing the Chinese characters meaning “A Famous Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant” to the general manager Zhao Xiaofeng. Josef Weissbacker, former executive chef of Austria’s famous Steirereck Restaurant , was invited to the scene; He became quite excited after winning high praises for making a widely-known dish of Sichuan, Fu Qi Fei Pian, under the instructions of Sichuan Restaurant chefs.

In Prague, people dressed like giant pandas distributed promotional materials of Sichuan’s tourism resources and toy pandas to passers-by outside of Sichuan cuisine restaurant Chuan Wang Fu. Many of the passers-by stopped to pose for a picture with those “giant panda”played by people. Color painting white ceramic pandas was warmly participated by children.

Chuan Wang Fu also received the same plaque as the one for Vienna’s Sichuan Restaurant from Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Committee.

The two restaurants were entrusted with carrying out?part of Sichuan’s tourism promotional work in Czech and Austria respectively.

The promotional activities in Austria and Czech were covered by a number of local news media. Media reports about Vienna’s promotion alone were republished by over 400 overseas media.

Promotion in Czech and Austria, although organized by the government, featured broad participation of tourism enterprises, thus facilitating cooperation among them.

Framework agreements for tourism cooperation were signed between Austrian travel services?and their Sichuan counterparts at the scene of promotion in Vienna.

According to the agreements, contracting parties will jointly promote in-depth tourism cooperation and tourism development.