ChinaOB Daily: Caribbean nations, Costa Rica, Myanmar, Italy, Finnish ecotourism

Editor’s note: We’re starting a new daily roundup of news — ChinaOB Daily— affecting outbound business, for countries trying to attract Chinese travelers. This is our first step in a larger dedicated product down the road.

• Chinese president’s Caribbean visit to draw more Chinese tourists to region: President Xi Jinping’s state visits to Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica and Mexico will help countries in the Caribbean region draw Chinese tourists, yet those countries still need to make more of an effort to tap the Chinese market, tourism insiders said.
• Costa Rica to ease up Chinese visa requirements: Costa Rica will make visa process more flexible to increase the number of Chinese tourists and business vistors….will add people in the Beijing and Shanghai consulates to process paperwork quicker…if Costa Rica could get 500,000 of them, it would boost tourism visits by 25 percent. Currently Chinese tourism to Costa Rica is very small because of visa problems.
• Myanmar working with Chinese tour agencies to increase visitors: Chinese tour companies are looking for ways to attract Chinese tourists to visit Myanmar. Though China was the second-largest country of origin for visitors to Myanmar last year, the travel professionals see potential for much larger numbers.
• Italy working on new easy visa rules for Chinese visitors: The new visa scheme is expected to ensure that more than 1 million Chinese tourists arrive in Italy during Milan Expo in 2015…tourists are expected to have a tailor-made welcome in Italy that includes Chinese-language brochures, Mandarin-speaking tour guides and even a Chinese-language tourism App for iPhone users.
• Chinese visitors drawn to Finnish ecotourism: Finnish ecotourism operators are aiming at the Chinese market, with many affluent Chinese now eager to travel the world and visit unusual natural beauty spots.