On March 30th, the 2019 China-New Zealand Year of Tourism officially kicked off in the Museum of New Zealand, the national museum in Wellington, with encouraging messages from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Attendees included Luo Shugang, Chinese minister of Cultural and Tourism, Wu Xi, Chinese ambassador to New Zealand, Kelvin Davis, New Zealand minister of Tourism, Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand minister for Maori Development and Jamie Tuuta, interim chair of Tourism New Zealand. Besides, the representatives from both governments, business and cultural groups, tourism industry, media and resident diplomatic delegation in Wellington were also present.
At the opening ceremony, the Chinese tourism video China, Beyond Your Imagination, which was produced by Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was released with high praise from audience. Then, the tourism departments from Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as tourism enterprises such as China Tourism Group, Ctrip, Tuniu and Alibaba Group, conducted exchanges with Tourism New Zealand and Air New Zealand during the opening ceremony.
As the China-New Zealand Tourism officially kicked off, a series of cultural and tourism activities will be held within this year to push forward the further development of cultural exchanges and tourism visits.