The City

With a total area of 16.800 square kilometres, Beijing Municipally is roughly the size of Belgium. The total population is about 11 million people. Beijing is a large and relatively clean City of orderly design, although it may not appear so on first sight: long, straight boulevards with socialistic or militaristic looking buildings are criss-crossed by a network of small lanes with the traditional courtyard houses. The reforms of the 1980's have brought foreign money, freeways and shopping malls but also social problems: as any other big city in China, it is an attractive destination for the large number of migrants without permanent home. Being capital city of PR China, some regulations in Beijing maybe stricter than in the eastern or southern part of China; soldiers patroulling the street are a common sight, especially close to the government quarters.

Practical advice: The temperatures in march can range between -2 to 15°C. Climate: dry. We advise to take warm clothes. Our city tour will include the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven. In the afternoon of the day of arrival, a shopping tour to the famous silk market can be arranged for those interested. Evening program includes a Beijing Duck Dinner and a visit to the Beijing Opera.

Beijing's Travel World

Beijing is the capital city and therefore, all ministries are located in Beijing. Almost all government institutions organize trips to Europe known as "inspection trips". Thus, many of the groups originating in Beijing have an official background: they travel upon invitation of a European company or institution and one or two technical visits have to be arranged.

There are also touristic groups of Beijing Citizens. However, due to the fact that tourism to Europe is not officially allowed for the northern provinces, most of these groups leave China via Guangzhou. All embassies of the European countries are located in Beijing. Therefore, many groups and delegations arc sent out of the country via agents located in Beijing.

In Beijing, you can find 110 travel agents with A-level Status entitled to organize trips abroad. Although tourism to Europe has remained illegal so far, all of these agents organize trips to Europe. Furthermore, agencies without A-level status use the licences of other agencies to do the same. Our workshop in Beijing is aimed at tour operators from Beijing, Tianjin and the north east provinces, at important government institutions, tourism cadres and or course journalists. The northern Chinese clientele is reknown for their willingness to spend a lot of money in Europe, although the budget of the northern touristic groups or delegations is rather low.