Norwegian folk tones accompany the release of ”Visitnorway.cn”.
”Visitnorway.cn” is the Chinese version of Innovation Norway’s official travel portal, and is part of a new Norwegian investment effort in the Chinese tourism market. The new web portal aims at giving Chinese tourists information about hotels and travel destinations in Norway, and the front page treats visitors to pictures of fjords and stave churches. The official release of the web page was held Monday June 21 as a part of the opening day of the Norwegian Tourism Week at the 2010 Shanghai EXPO.
- I’m fortunate to see the northern light
The famous Shanghai television host Li Sizhe performed the official release by opening the front page in a browser window, and was accompanied by a short vignette performed by the fiddle-player Vegar Vårdal. Five folk musicians from the Norwegian Youth League will contribute with daily cultural performances during the Norwegian Tourism Week, and garnered large applause from the audience when they opened the event with a performance of the Norwegian folk song ”Lars Clumsyfoot”.
Xiao Min from the Chinese province of Shaanxi works as a guide at the Norwegian pavilion and over the last four years she has studied industrial technology in the town Narvik in northern Norway. During the release she enthusiastically recounted her experiences living in Norway, and encouraged the journalists to visit northern Norway if they ever got the opportunity do so.
- I’m very fortunate to be able to see the northern light where I live, said Xiao Min in her speech. - The nature is fantastic and people there are very nice.
Expensive travel destination
Among the 40 journalists from the Chinese media were journalists Qiu Yan and Wu Xiaoqing from QQ and the newspaper Youth Daily. Both of them expressed a strong interest in visiting Norway, but considered a trip there to be a bit on the expensive side.
- When I was young my parents told me about vikings and the Norwegian nature. I’ve always wanted to go there on vacation, but it’s quite expensive, says Qiu Yan.
A one-week trip to Norway with hotel stays and restaurant visits included can cost more than 20 000 Chinese yuan.
Tourism to Norway a growth sector
On the day of ”Visitnorway.cn”’s release, the French pavilion had its national pavilion day, whereas the American pavilion opened its ”San Francisco Week”. Per Holte, the director of Visit Norway’s Chinese department, considers the large showing of Chinese media at the event a sign of the Norwegian national brand’s penetration in the Chinese market.
- The tourism sector will only become more important going forward and is a big source of employment, especially the employment of women. The Norwegian government’s efforts to increase international marketing of tourism to Norway is a welcome effort and will strengthen Norway as a popular international tourist destination, says Holte.
Photo credits: Joon Hetland