The 2015 World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit took place in Madrid, Spain on April 15 and 16, 2015 with more than 700 representatives from government agencies, tourism service providers and media outlets as well as investors and industry experts in attendance. HNA Group chairman Chen Feng gave one of the summit’s key speeches. The event was sponsored by Platinum sponsor NH Hotel Group, a subsidiary of HNA Group and the third largest hotel group in Europe.
The 2015 WTTC chose “Overturn and Reshape” as the theme. The king of Spain invited key members of the WTTC for dinner on April 17, including Chen Feng, the sole entrepreneur from China invited to the evening event. On April 15, Chen Feng indicated in his speech that China’s rapid economic development has boosted the fast growth of the tourism sector. In 2014, border crossings into and out of China numbered 110 million and the figure is expected to surpass the 500 million mark over the next five years. Taking into consideration the “One Belt, One Road” strategy being rolled out by Chinese leaders, China is seeing huge tourism cooperation opportunities with Europe. These changes call for innovative players willing to take the initiative and China will work closely with Europe to take full advantage of the opportunities.
Much in line with this year’s “Overturn and Reshape” theme, the appearance of HNA Tourism Group at the summit in Madrid provided an opportunity for the Chinese tourism group to demonstrate its innovative international development model to the world. Established in 2007, HNA Tourism’s operations now extend to hotels, aviation, tourism, finance, IT and internet services. With quality brands such as Capital Airlines, Deer Jet, Caissa Touristic, Tangla Hotels, NH Hotel Group, HNA Cruises and Transforex Currency Exchange, among others, HNA Tourism ranks sixth among all China-based tourism groups.
In recent years, HNA Tourism has embarked on a globalization strategy and improved its global competitiveness through a series of international mergers and acquisitions. The group completed the equity acquisitions of Caissa Touristic and the Spanish NH Hotel Group, further complementing its international business layout. Its subsidiary, Capital Airlines, with a focus on becoming the top brand of air tour in China, is aggressively developing Asian and North American markets.
Caissa Touristic is vigorously expanding into overseas markets and taking a leading position in China’s outbound tourism market by combining airline travel with other components of tourism. HNA has 469 hotels in 170 cities across nearly 30 countries worldwide, with NH Hotel Group and Tangla Hotels as the two core brands.
Deer Jet, recently awarded the title of “Asia’s Best Business Jet Charter”, has received the AGUS Platinum Rating’s Five Star and IS-BAO certifications, and owns a fleet of 84 planes. Its operations network extends to major economic areas of the world. HNA Tourism’s corporate philosophy, focused on healthy and sustainable development, innovative business models and growing reach in international markets, was a major factor leading to the group being selected as a winner at the 2014 Top World Travel Awards (WTA).
