by Joachim Fischer, CIBTM Beijing

The number of Internet user in China, most of them using China Wide Web, grew rapidly in the first half of this year even as the economy suffered from the global downturn, a report by a quasi-government organization showed.

The first six months of 2010 saw international tourist arrivals grow by 7% according to the August Interim Update of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. This result confirms the recovery trend beginning in the last quarter of 2009 and is expected to continue in the second half of the year at a somewhat more moderate rate. The Interim Update was officially presented at the 4th UNWTO/PATA

To mark the beginning of a new phase in its Silk Road Programme, UNWTO, in collaboration with the Government of Uzbekistan, will hold the 5^th International Meeting on the Silk Road on 8-9 October 2010 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. The Meeting will introduce new concepts for Silk Road branding and marketing, destination management and travel facilitation and will set out key strategies for the UNWTO’s ‘Silk Road Action Plan 2010-2011’.