A few months after the start of the year, Italy and China are ready for one of the events that will see them as protagonists, the year of culture and tourism 2022. It was initially planned for 2020, the year in which the two nations celebrated their 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
Due to the pandemic, the governments of the two countries have been forced to postpone the event for two years, in the chinese year of the Tiger. However, the organization of the year of culture and tourism is a priority for the two countries and represents an important opportunity to continue this long-standing collaboration.
Today there are many Italian companies that aspire to conquer a place in the market of the Asian giant. How will the year of culture and tourism 2022 help their entry into the Chinese economy?
Italy and China are geographically very distant nations and apparently they are also far away from a socio-cultural point of view, but actually they are closer than one might imagine.
The two protagonists of the year of culture and tourism 2022 both have a thousand-year history to which the two countries are still extremely linked today, and to quote the words of the Italian ambassador Luca Ferrari in the meeting with the minister of culture and tourism Chinese Hu Keping, “Italy and China represent two cultural superpowers” (source Affari Italiani).
These two cultural superpowers are linked by an ancient and deep friendship with solid foundations, characterized by a mutual exchange, a mutual curiosity, a deep respect and a common inclination to what is beautiful.
In fact, Italy and China are respectively in first and second place for the largest number of sites recognized by UNESCO. To be exact, there are 58 sites for Italy, followed with 56 by China and both countries want to promote them through twinning.
The two nations share the desire to protect their artistic and cultural heritage and, according to the Chinese president, Italy has much to teach China and the whole world about the protection of artistic works.
The two countries are among the tourist destinations that each year welcome the largest number of international tourists. Tourism was one of the sectors most severely hit by the health emergency and for this reason the two governments intend to relaunch the sector through an integrated and innovative strategy.
Finally, there is another element that unites these two geographically distant countries, namely the culinary culture. The love for good food and the art of cooking are key factors of these two cultures, and Italian and Chinese cuisine meet on the Silk Road with a mutual exchange of experiences.
Over the past two years, Italy and China, as well as the rest of the world, have had to face enormous difficulties related to the health emergency. The year of culture and tourism brings with it a breath of optimism after such an arduous period.
China's interest in the beautiful country is increasingly growing and this year will bring the two nations to know each other even more in depth. The year of culture and tourism will offer the two countries the opportunity to collaborate in many sectors and to present their respective excellences.
From contemporary art to architecture, from theater to music, from cinema to technology, from heritage protection to the enhancement of the territory, emphasizing as much as possible the link between the promotion and the cultural / tourist offer of Italy and China.
In Italy, music and dance performances typical of the Chinese tradition and culinary demonstrations will be presented.
The program is still incomplete, but among the events we will witness on the occasion of the Italy-China Year of Culture and Tourism 2022 are the exhibition Tota Italia, which will illustrate the birth of the Italian nation to the country of the dragon through exemplary works and the Parallel Space exhibition, dedicated to the famous terracotta army of Xi'an.
Two major inaugural concerts are planned, one of classical music in China and one of Chinese music in Italy, will be performed simultaneously and in audio-video connection, to celebrate the traditional music of the two cultural superpowers.
There are also numerous twinning initiatives between the Unesco World Heritage sites of both countries, as well as the creation of a digital bridge between Italy and China for the year of culture and tourism, to improve and facilitate the exchange of content.
Precisely on the occasion of the G20 of Culture, held last August in Rome, the representatives of China and Italy stressed the importance of digital as a decisive factor in the growth of humanity.
In the cultural collaboration between Italy and China, the digital dimension will play a fundamental role for the exchange of contents between the two countries during the year of culture and tourism 2022. A working table is dedicated to digital with the aim of defining opportunities for sharing and access to content on both sides.
The 114 Unesco protected sites of Italy and China put together are a significant fact that highlights the importance of protecting and making known their cultural heritage to the whole world.
In this regard, last October, on the occasion of Golden Week 2021, the week in which the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China is celebrated, the Directorate General of Museums of the Ministry of Culture presented a project for the digital promotion of Italian museums in China.
The initiative, which takes the name of M.IT.I.CI (pseudo acronym for Italian Museums In China) and created in collaboration with the digital marketing agency Digital to Asia, is dedicated to visitors from the country of the Dragon.
The project was born in 2019 when it was realized that the economic growth of the Chinese population would lead to an increase in the desire to travel and immerse oneself in different cultures. During the year of culture and tourism Italy China, this initiative will reach the highest level.
In 2021, the Golden Week had a strong symbolic value for China and brought with it the hope of a restart in the near future. In fact, it is hoped that a greater number of Chinese tourists will be interested in leaving their borders and travelling to discover Europe.
Despite the primacy of Italy, the cultural heritage of the beautiful country is not the best known by the Chinese people and often our museums do not have the adequate tools to direct the visitor and facilitate him in the concrete experience of discovering Italian art. Hence the need to create an approach path for Chinese tourists to Italian culture and art.
The M.IT.I.CI project aims to improve the reception system in Italian museums, creating seminars for staff in the 9 museums involved and installing signs in Chinese in the exhibition areas.
Furthermore, this initiative aims to increase the visibility of museums in the Italy through the use of Chinese social media, starting from the presence on WeChat and then extending to the other most popular digital platforms in China.
During the year of culture and tourism, live streaming, vlogs, 3D virtual tours and other contents dedicated to travelers will be created to tell the beauty of our country to the Chinese public.
The year of culture and tourism Italy China 2022 will also offer Chinese tourists the possibility of making payments with Alipay, a mobile payment method commonly used in their country of origin.
With the resumption of international travel, the aim is to extend this method of payment to other services as well. In fact, in all the museums that have joined the initiative, it will be possible to pay via the app, as well as being able to receive information about the cultural offer of the sites included in the project.
Alipay will allow companies and organizations around the world to reach Chinese consumers more easily. This will make it easier to interact and trade with them, using a payment method they are familiar with.
The Chinese capital in recent days hosted the Winter Olympics, which will be followed by those of Milan-Cortina 2026. This passing of the baton, recalling the one which took place between Expo2010 in Shanghai and Expo2015 in Milan, it is hoped that it will be a good omen for the year of culture and tourism Italy China.
The winter sporting events held in China, which will take place in Italy in four years, represent an important opportunity for the beautiful country to attract Chinese tourists to the Italian Alps. Furthermore, it will be a further complementary event to the year of culture and tourism.
Opportunities of this kind must be seized to strengthen bilateral cooperation in winter sports and related industries, especially tourism. In fact, even today the ski resorts of our country remain a favorite destination for the most part by Europeans.
It is not just a collaboration between people who share a passion for winter sports, it is above all a cultural exchange of values regarding the culture of food, architecture and lifestyle all made in Italy.
China has been and continues to be at the center of a great polarizing debate and it is often a source of prejudice due to a lack of knowledge of a country that instead has a leading role in the international context and will continue to have it in the future.
The year of culture and tourism is one of the results of the agreement on the Belt and Road Initiative (the new Silk Road) and represents an impetus for new economic and trade agreements between Italy and China.
Although the pandemic had strong repercussions on the global economy, China has restarted and continues to be at the center of the interest of Italian companies. No country with a strong propensity towards exports wants to give up entering the chinese market, but to be successful, a profound knowledge of this nation is required.
The year of culture and tourism 2022 can provide an opportunity to break the prejudices that continue to be linked to China and break down those cultural barriers that are still present.
2022 will not be remembered only as the year of culture and tourism Italy China, but above all as the year that enshrines this strong bond that has lasted for more than 50 years. In order to enter the Chinese market, it could be an excellent opportunity to exploit it, as long as you rely on experts and on-site facilities.
Tools like Noziroh Hub are essential for selling products in China and managing export processes successfully. The risks of failure are around the corner and only through in-depth market research it is possible to verify the feasibility of a project and avoid unexpected events.
With Noziroh Hub it is possible to manage all stages of marketing in China by counting on a single reference: market research, B2B and B2C sales, management of stores in local e-commerce platforms, storage of goods, order fulfillment, management of social profiles, packaging and private labels.
To speak with a consultant on how to take advantage of the year of culture and tourism Italy China to position your products in China, you can book a free phone call by clicking here.
Autor: Paola Golino
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