The CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Award has been held annually by COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute since 2004. It has established itself as the leading award programme for the Chinese outbound tourism market, having presented service quality prizes to more than 150 tourism service providers, Destination Management Organisations, National Tourism Organisations, retailers, hospitality, marketing and communication companies among others. The CTW Award programme and its winners gain widespread exposure each year through a coverage in a wide range of international printed and digital media publications.

 After being presented as an offline ceremony for many years, the CTW Award will transition to an online format for the first time in 2026. Dr. Reza Soltani and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt together with Prof. Dr. Yang Jingjing of BTBU, the representative of COTRI in China, will co-host an online show introducing the new structure and offers and also unveiling a new website dedicated to tourism into and out of China.

The main content of the July 9th however, will be the presentation of the winners of the CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Award 2026. The application process is free of charge, however, the deadline for applications is June 30th, 2026. So please hurry if you want to have a chance to be awarded in Gold, Silver and Bronze in one of the five categories of the CTW Award.

The online CTW Award presentation will start with a welcome by the co-hosts followed by a brief analysis of the current situation of international tourism to and from China by your humble editor. Award winners will be announced and the five gold winners will be invited to give a short presentation each about their award-winning activities. These great Best Practice Examples will be helpful for anybody working in the Chinese market.

Applications are evaluated by a jury of Chinese and Non-Chinese tourism experts. Gold, Silver and Bronze CTW Awards are awarded in five categories each:

Product Innovation
Internet/Media
Service Quality
Marketing
Overall Performance