Not sure the ramifications of Hainan has fully sank in, this really is great news. It is now up to the various organisations not just in Manchester but right across the North of England to get involved in ensuring its a success.
When officially annouced an immediate start would be contact with the Chinese Travel Agency who last year successfully brought in the three plane loads of Chinese tourists via Birmingham.
Not withstanding Stratford I understand a substantial part of the tour took in Chester, Liverpool (Beatles Tour), Chatsworth and York.
There has to be a catalyst to bring all relevant organisations together.
For too long the emphasis on long haul from Manchester has been on outbound traffic with Manchester being the focal point. Whilst Manchester as a City has never experienced such a boom in construction it cannot possibly support all these long haul services on its own, and it must embrace a plocy of expanding inbound traffic more readily.
Cathay are sponsoring the Chinese New Year celebrations in Manchester and the Mancheseter International Festival , great but maybe recalibrating the strategy to widen the remit across a much larger footprint would be in order !
Just one VERY, VERY, minor point of dispondency ROUGE !
Reported "on here" that the schedule is now more or less the same as last year ? Quite a hole based on the year round schedule !
You can't win them all but it would be nice to.....