GREAT China Welcome directory June 2016 | Page 4

Introduction Britain offers a very warm welcome to all visitors. But with over 170,000 different hotels, attractions and activities in Britain, how can you be sure that the places on your itinerary are set up to cater for your clients' needs? The GREAT China Welcome programme was created in 2014 to signpost British hospitality businesses which are ready for China. It recognises businesses that have gone out of their way to offer exceptional service to Chinese visitors by providing tailored information, amenities and facilities. The scheme is run by Britain's national tourism agency, VisitBritain, and supported by the UK government. Unlike other China-focused accreditation schemes, membership is entirely free and based solely on merit. This directory contains details of over 300 businesses that have joined the programme so far. But the list is growing by the week. Our online version of this directory is kept fully up to date and you can also easily identify our members on VisitBritain's trade website http:// trade.visitbritain.com/zh-hans/ We are grateful to UnionPay International for sponsoring the directory and helping to show how many British hospitality businesses now accept payment by Union Pay. We hope you find this directory useful and it provides good ideas for your itineraries. We are tremendously grateful for your support and look forward to working closely with all our partners in China and the UK to welcome more clients to Britain. Sally Balcombe Chief Executive, VisitBritain photo by Eden Project 5