Welcome Chinese

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Welcome Chinese was a hospitality standard, brand, and company founded in 2013 in China by Select Holding Ltd and the China Tourism Academy (CTA) under the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA). Its goal was to make Chinese travelers feel welcome overseas and to help hotels, museums, airports, and other tourist destinations reach the Chinese market through promotions. A secondary aim was to help global venues tailor services to Chinese tastes and habits.

Origin and launch
Jacopo Sertoli, the CEO of Select Holding, opened a China office in 2010 to bring the Select Italy model to China. The idea grew from promoting CCTV News as an in-room amenity in hotels, which sparked the Welcome Chinese concept: certifying hotels and tourism businesses in exchange for services suited to Chinese guests. In mid-2013, Select Holding and CTA formed a partnership that gave Welcome Chinese credibility, with CTA backing to promote the standard within China’s travel industry. The official launch happened on October 18, 2013 in Beijing’s National Stadium, supported by state media and payment giant China UnionPay. Hilton Worldwide joined through its Huanying program. Welcome Chinese Ltd was established in Hong Kong, while operations remained in Shanghai.

Certification and growth
The Welcome Chinese Certification (WCC) was open to non-Chinese hotels and offered three levels—Bronze, Silver, and Gold—based on the services hotels could guarantee to Chinese guests. A Red Certificate existed as a separate, premium designation. The organization planned to extend the standard to restaurants, airports, museums, and shops, and launched a joint Welcome Chinese B2B and B2C website in Beijing. The program spread through China’s tourism fairs (CMT, COTTM, WTF, BITE, CITIE, WTM in London) and roadshows to second‑tier cities.

milestones and partnerships
- June 2014: First presentation to a non-Chinese audience in Rome; awards given to NTv and Roma’s Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport for services to Chinese travelers.
- February 2015: Seminar in Abu Dhabi with CTA and local tourism officials; demonstration of 20 certified hotels plus a shopping center and two entertainment parks.
- February 2015: Aéroports de Paris signed for Red Certificate for Charles de Gaulle, to improve transit for Chinese travelers.
- April 2015: At the COTTM fair, IHG received Gold Certification for 83 hotels in Italy, expanding Chinese‑targeted services; Trenitalia received Red Certification.
- 2015: Red Certification for Museo Ferrari; Valle dei Templi, MAXXI, Cinecittà World received certifications; luxury outlets like The Galleria and The Mall in Italy joined.
- November 2015: Welcome Chinese expanded to Portugal; later that year, about 300 businesses were certified.
- 2016: Verona Arena and Maiella National Park certified; DeltaPo project launched to develop the Po Delta as a destination; a shopping mall opened in Occhiobello in 2017.
- 2016: Brazil was introduced to Welcome Chinese at a seminar in Brasília; the European Travel Commission later selected Welcome Chinese to support World Bridge Tourism, to boost Chinese awareness of Europe before the 2018 EU–China Tourism Year. The World Bridge Tourism program included conferences and business workshops in Shanghai and Europe.

Status
As of 2026, Welcome Chinese is no longer active and its websites are offline.

Note: The program included a progression of WCC levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold) plus a separate Red Certificate, and offered both B2B and B2C components to help travelers find certified services abroad.