Today ( April 5, 2006 ) , closing day of the Beijing International Tourism Travel and Tourism Market
(BITTM) 2006, BITTM handed out some awards that really meant something. Led by Professor Wolfgang Arlt from Germany and sponsored by Gullivers, Tarsus Exhibitions, China Outbound Tourism, Global Refund and China Contact, a handful of Chinese students were commended for outstanding contributions to our industry and they aren't even working in it yet. Headhunters take note.

I don't know about you, but it doesn't seem that long ago when I was the youngest person in the room. Perhaps you can recall when original ideas were all that mattered before Business got in the way to muddy the waters. Hopefully, the majority of us working in our industry still believe original thinking is King. Today at BITTM 2006 we saw young people full of promise proudly step forward to accept awards for excellence of ideas.

We applauded and cheered on a select group of young Chinese men and women who received recognition for their work, as students, within the tourism sector. These students are potentially tomorrow's leaders of tourism in China . While thanking their parents for providing the opportunity to excel, perhaps the global tourism industry should be thanking their universities for providing stellar learning environments that we as an industry will ultimately benefit from.

It is critical in China , as it is indeed globally, for well-educated managers and leaders to be able to create creative, original, customized travel options for travelers. In a quickly maturing and diversifying market, knowledge of the customers' needs, as well as benefits of the various destinations, is essential to guarantee customer satisfaction and longevity of business. To help achieve these goals, and to complement BITTM's continuing investment in the Chinese travel and tourism industry, the BITTM Student Awards today recognized the brightest tourism students in Beijing and to help further their career progress with substantial monetary prizes.

Recipients of the BITTM 2006 Awards are:

Beijing International Studies University (BISU):
Deng Zhou, Sun Jian and Wang Shufang.
BISU is a learning institution with the longest tradition of tourism education, originally organized under the Foreign Ministry of China in the 1950s for tour guide education. Partner: Professor Gu Huimin

Peking University: Zhang Xinmei, Dang Ning and Xing Juejue
Peking University is the oldest and most prestigious university in China, the Center for Recreation and Tourism Research (CRTR) is one of the most famous university institutions in this field. Partner: Professor Wu Bihu.

Professor Dr. Wolfgang Arlt noted during the presentation “These awards have provided us with an opportunity to proactively demonstrate our respect and appreciation for Beijing being a warm and welcoming host city of BITTM and also home of two of the most important Chinese universities for tourism studies.”

It was on this inspirational note exhibitors broke down their stands and made plans to meet further with the buyers they forged relationships with during BITTM 2006. In Beijing , the weather has been kind, the welcome warm and our farewells reluctantly said. We will be bringing you profiles and interviews of a diverse cross-section of BITTM exhibitors over the next month to share with you their perspectives, strategies and overall marketing goals for reaching the Chinese outbound travel market.