According to official sources, the group will include representatives of hotel chains, travel agencies and two emblematic figures of Cuban sport: Mijaín López, five-time Olympic champion, and Javier Sotomayor, multi-record holder in the high jump.
During the fair, a Tourism Promotion Activity of the Cuba Destination will take place, in which the sportsmen and women will share with specialised press, tour operators and businessmen.
This activity joins the measures that the two countries have taken to strengthen cultural, tourist and commercial exchanges, such as the resumption of the direct Beijing-Havana flight or the announcement by Cuba of the visa exemption for Chinese tourists.
The CITM is the first international tourism exhibition with its own brand in the country, as well as the largest professional fair of its kind in Asia.
Since 2001, the event has brought together tourism institutions, travel agencies, hotels, airlines, cultural institutions, museums and other companies related to the culture and tourism of the Asian giant, as well as participants from more than 100 countries and regions from all over the world.
With the theme «Nihao! China» (Hello China!), CITM 2024 will be held at the National Convention and Exhibition Centre and will occupy an area of 53,000 square metres, with around 2,500 standard stands, the organisers said.
Cuba’s Mijaín López became the first athlete to win five consecutive Olympic titles in the same individual discipline after triumphing in the Greco-Roman wrestling tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Lopez, from the 130kg division, won titles at the Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and became the oldest wrestler to win gold at a summer event.
Meanwhile, Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor celebrated the 35th anniversary of his indoor record of 2.43m, one of the oldest in athletics.
Sotomayor, considered to be the island’s greatest athletics reference, achieved this world record on 4 March 1989 at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Four years later, on 27 July 1993, the Cuban achieved the outdoor world record, also in force, by jumping 2.45 metres, in Salamanca, Spain.
