The last edition of China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM) was the largest in the show’s history welcoming 275 exhibitors from 60 different countries who came to showcase their destinations and travel services to 4,137 leading outbound tour operators from all over China.

The success of COTTM mirrors the dramatic rise in outbound travel from China, a sector which is growing so quickly that all previous predictions have been revised upwards. Figures released for the first half of 2012 show a like for like annual increase of over 20% and the latest projections from the China National Tourism Administration show that 100 million Chinese will travel overseas by 2015, surpassing the UNWTO’s prediction that this will happen in 2020.

Now entering its ninth year, COTTM remains the only business to business event that focuses purely on this burgeoning outbound market. It is now widely regarded in China as the industry’s most important annual platform where professionals come to do business and learn about trends and developments in their industry.