Targeting a fast growing market:China’s outbound travel market is growing at unprecedented rates, quickly becoming the global travel industry’s number one growth segment. In large Scandinavian cities, the number of Chinese visitors grew by an average of 20% in 2012. With an expected 25 million first time Chinese travellers every year over the next 10 years, this growth is likely to continue. However, despite high growth rates in Chinese visitors, the Scandinavian destinations are surpassed by other European destinations, and losing market share to its European competitors.Chinavia II project backgroundIn recognition of the Chinese travel market development and potential, four Scandinavian cities performed a one-year long pilot research project. The goal was to gain better insight into the Chinese travel market, the preferences of the modern Chinese travellers, and the performance of the Scandinavian destinations in servicing them. The Chinese tourists express great affection for the Scandinavian destinations, but also experience great barriers of both language and culture while here, calling for more and better Chinese information. Especially when it comes to digital forms (mobile and web). In short, the results show that Scandinavian destinations are not yet China-ready.A China-ready region: Interregional coperation requiredAs the Chinese market offers great common challenges to the destinations, common solutions are required. The Chinese market is not only enormous, but also enormously complex and the Chinese tourists have high demands in terms of service and information levels. It requires massive ressources in terms of finance and knowledge to address these demands and only by pooling their ressources will the project partners be able to develop a truly China-ready destination. Reflecting the demand for a ”Scandinavian travel experience”, the project partners can provide the demanded product of both beautiful Scandinavian landscapes and urban Scandinavian atmosphere and lifestyle.The project activities To ensure the development of a China-ready region, the Chinavia II project is structured in five work packages, namely: China-ready knowledge & strategy; strengthening the region’s understanding of the Chinese traveller segment and identifying key areas for further improvement China-ready Industry & Networks; building up skills for welcoming and servicing the Chinese visitors, and developing products specifically for the Chinese visitors China-ready destinations; developing Chinese language information and guides across the region to make the destinations accessible to Chinese visitors China-ready communication; developing an online presence and visibility for the region’s destination on China’s internet Project management and administration transversing the work package structure. Expected Results: Long-term perspective:The growth in Chinese visitors in the Oresund-Kattegat-Skagerrak-region is more than just numbers. Tourism creates jobs, builds relations, and strengthens the region. With the increasing global influence of China, the Chinavia II project lays the groundwork for securing the region’s market position in the (tourism) economy of tomorrow.