Shaoxing, a winemaking city in the eastern province of Zhejiang, is one of China’s boom towns right now and a delegation of investors and entrepreneurs from the city made up China’s first official “Gathering” of 2013.

The group from China taking part in the tourism initiative comprised four senior managers from the Shaoxing Hi-tech Zone, as well as eight entrepreneurs from Shaoxing City, one of China's economic "hot spots", said Tourism Ireland, which organised the trip.

The Shaoxing Hi-tech Zone recently bought the Irish Pavilion that was built for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai – and it is now planning to invest a hefty 800 million yuan (€100 million) into the project.

This will include converting the pavilion into a multi-functional building, cultural hub and permanent landmark in Shaoxing. The original pavilion cost €8 million, so this is quite an outlay.

Emerging tourism
The first stop was Cork, which is twinned with Shanghai, where the group met representatives of the city council. They also spent time in Dublin where they visited Trinity College and the Book of Kells, and the Guinness Storehouse.

"Although the major focus of Tourism Ireland's promotional activity to highlight the Gathering this year is in countries with a strong Diaspora connection – like Britain, the US, Canada and Australia – Tourism Ireland is also working hard in emerging tourism markets, like China, to raise awareness of Ireland," said Susan Li, Tourism Ireland's manager in China.