Belt and Road sees tourism flying high

Capital Airlines, has launched a direct air link between China and Portugal. 

The agreement to launch a direct flight from Beijing to Lisbon was signed during Prime Minister Antonio Costa's visit to Beijing last year and the new route was unveiled at the inauguration ceremony that was held on recently in Lisbon, Portugal. The debut flight is scheduled to take place on July 25, 2017.

The planes of Capital Airlines. [Photo: china.com]

But it's not just Portugal who will benefit from the Belt and Road initiative China Airlines will resume direct flights to London later this year. They'll fly four times a week from Taipei to London Gatwick.

The airline last served London five years ago with flights to London Heathrow.

"We are delighted to welcome China Airlines to Gatwick as part of our flourishing long-haul network, which is increasingly connecting the UK to more and more destinations, including major business hubs, across the globe," said Stephen King, the airport's head of airline relations.

Taipei becomes London Gatwick's sixth route to Asia Pacific

The Belt and Road initiative will have an impact outside of Europe too. Recently the Beijing Tourism Commission held an event in St Petersburg called "Follow the Silk Road to discover the new Beijing".

This event was attended by Deputy Director of Beijing Tourism Commission Cao Pengcheng, officials with St. Petersburg tourism authorities, head of Sino-Russia Tourism Promotion Committee and Deputy Consul General of the Chinese Consulate in St. Petersburg Zhang Shuyou. About one hundred people including St. Petersburg local travel agents and CCTV, Xinhua and other related media participated in the promotional activities.

Cao pointed out that as the capital of China, Beijing is a tourist destination longed for across the world. Beijing is both one ancient capital with over thousands of years of history and one open and inclusive cosmopolitan city. Cao welcomed more Russian friends to Beijing to experience the city's international style, ancient charm, oriental presence and fashionable feel.

St. Petersburg tourism officials and Zhang Shuyou echoed Cao's remarks and pointed out that China's capital Beijing boasts deep historical and cultural background, ever-changing urban landscape, unique tourism resources, and hospitable local people and they are willing to play greater roles in deepening tourism exchanges and cooperation between the two places.