The Business Travel Expo Hong Kong, Asia's first ever B2B travel show, opened Tuesday at the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Center.

Officiating at the opening ceremony, Joshua Law, director-general of Trade and Industry of the Hong Kong SAR government, said it was a right choice to choose Hong Kong as the place for staging the expo's inaugural exhibition in the Asia Pacific region.

Law said Hong Kong is the preferred destination of a large number of business travelers each year. Of the 13 million visitors who came to Hong Kong in 2000, about 30 percent came here for business, he said.

These business travelers spent some 22 billion HK dollars (US$ 2.82billion) on accommodation, food, shopping and entertainment while staying here, contributing to about 36 percent of the total tourism receipts, according to Law.

Law also pointed out in his speech Hong Kong's advantages as a haven for business travelers: a fleet of 90 world-class hotels, providing some 36,000 rooms, a state-of-the-art international airport capable of handling 45 million passengers per annum and 47 flights per hour, very efficient transportation systems, world-class convention and exhibition facilities, a sound legal system that respects contractual obligations and intellectual property rights, and a safe community for residents and visitors alike.

The two-day expo aims at providing opportunities for top executives and experts of the world's renowned airlines, travel agents, hotels, and other supporting service providers to showcase the superb services of their companies and exchange views on future developments of the business travel industry.

( Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2002)