Shanghai teams up with New York to become tourism partners

Shanghai and New York announced the beginning of a two-year tourism partnership last week, which in our eyes officially gives Shanghai bragging rights to be the New York of China.
Yang Jinsong, head of Shanghai Tourism Administration, and Fred Dixon, CEO of NYC & Company, signed the agreement of tourism partnership cities during a press conference at The Peninsula Shanghai.
The agreement includes promotions in both cities, such as outdoor media advertising and tailored travel products, Sohu reports.

“2016 is the ‘China-US Tourism Year’, so the tourism partnership between Shanghai and New York is quite meaningful for both countries,” said Yang. “US is a very essential tourist destination for Chinese especially people in Shanghai, we really look forward to cooperating with New York and other famous tourist cities.”
More than 636,000 of tourists visiting Shanghai in 2015 came from the United States, an increase on 2014. Shanghai Disneyland, a cooperative effort between China and the US, and last year’s opening of the world’s 2nd tallest skyscraper are expected to draw in even more American visitors.
Shanghai can also boast being named the second most desirable place to visit in Asia by Lonely Planet.
New York City received 852,000 Chinese tourists last year, with 159,000 of all visitors originating Shanghai. Dixon estimated that the annual number of Chinese tourists would climb to 921,000 this year and at least a million in 2018.
“China is a significant market to New York tourism, we want to take advantage of the ‘China-US Tourism Year’ and teaming up with Shanghai to attract more tourists to visit New York.” said Dixon. “We are very honored to become tourism partner with Shanghai, and we hope to promote the development of tourism in both cities.”

From now until August 11, a popup promotional exhibit for New York will be displayed at four major subway stations around Shanghai (People’s Square, Xujiahui, Shanghai Science & Technology Museum and Xintiandi). Shanghai will also promote itself at 164 bus stations in New York from September 26 to October 23.
Meanwhile, the well-known Chinese pianist Lang Lang was recently appointed to be the first NYC Cultural Tourism Ambassador to encourage New Yorkers to visit Shanghai.
By Sophie Wang
[Images via Sohu]