LONDON, England (Xinhua) — Britain’s largest-ever tourism trade mission to China was preparing to leave for Shanghai yesterday.

More than 80 travel trade delegates from Britain, including officials from tourism bodies, hotels, retailers and tour operators, will showcase Britain as a destination to Chinese buyers at a VisitBritain ‘Destination Britain China’ three-day event, being held in Shanghai starting tomorrow.

More than 7,000 business appointments will take place during the trade fair, giving more than 100 buyers from 15 cities across China the chance to see the latest tourism products and services from across Britain, with more than half of the delegates attending for the first time.

Britain’s most romantic marriage spot, Scotland’s Gretna Green, will be represented with stories of how eloping teenage brides from England made the dash across the border to be married in the blacksmith’s shop in front of an iron anvil.

Castles and Britain’s royal palaces, as well as popular destinations such as Shakespeare’s England will be highlighted.

There will even be a team from central London, promoting the capital’s famous Chinatown along with the theatres of the West End and London’s fashionable Carnaby Street.

Every part of Britain will have a story to tell, from historic Scotland, the scenic Lake District, tourism in Wales, along with many of Britain’s major cities.

Destination Britain China has been running since 2009 and is an important event in VisitBritain’s travel industry calendar, said a spokeswoman for the organisation.

“Our ‘Destination Britain China’ event gives British travel suppliers the chance to forge valuable business connections with the Chinese travel trade,” said VisitBritain CEO Sally Balcombe.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for travel suppliers and local destinations to get their tourism products and services to inspire more visitors to come and explore more of our nations and regions,” Balcombe added.

As well as doing business with top travel buyers in China, delegates at this year’s event will hear about the latest international travel market trends, what Britain is doing to attract more international visitors, alongside attending seminars and networking to boost knowledge of Britain as a tourist destination.

“Last year was a record-breaking year for visits from China to Britain with 270,000 visits, 46 per cent up on the year before, with spend up 18 per cent to £586 million (US$724 million), moving China into Britain’s top-10 most valuable inbound markets for the first time,” Balcombe said.

She added that the latest data show flight bookings from China, for November this year to January 2017, are up 17 per cent on the same period last year.

“VisitBritain has ambitions to double spend from Chinese visitors to £1 billion (US$1.25 billion) by 2020,” Balcombe said.

After their mission to Shanghai, the event moves to South Korea to signal a new start for VisitBritain’s promotional effort in that market, described as one of Britain’s fastest-growing inbound markets.