China Search Marketing Tour Dates Announced!

Note: there have been some updates regarding the itinerary since this post was made. Please see the official China Search Marketing Tour site for the details.

The official date has been set for SES China – May 25-26, 2007 in the city of Xiamen.

Xiamen used to be called Amoy, and you will still occasionally see references to that name. It’s a very modern city with a strong banking system and is a very popular destination for investment from overseas. It was one of the first Special Economic Zones in China, and has been used as a trading port with the west since the 1500’s.

It’s very common for companies to start out working with China via Hong Kong (since Hong Kong uses the Common Law and English is an official there) and for the next stop into China to be in Xiamen, so this is a really good location for the conference. It’s a very clean city (recently voted the cleanest in China), and the shopping is amazing. It’s right across from Taiwan, physically, and if you follow the latitude line to North America you’d be somewhere between Miami and Key West – so it will be warmer than Beijing (latitude is closer to Chicago)!

Of course, that means that we now have the dates for the China Search Marketing Tour!

It will be from May 20-24. We expect something similar to this (though please note that this may change):

1. Sat May 19 - People fly in from wherever.
2. Sun May 20 - Beijing
3. Monday May 21 - Beijing
4. Tues May 22 - Hong Kong
5. Wed May 23 - Hong Kong
6. Thurs May 24 - Xiamen.
7. Fri-Sat May 25-26 - SES China in Xiamen
8. Sun May 27 - People fly out

We will be able to do sightseeing and shopping, of course! But there will be business-related activities in all the cities, for those of you wondering if this is a business trip or not.

I'm setting up meetings with trade officials in Beijing and Hong Kong already, and we will also be announcing other activities (and possibly tours) as we can verify them.

Having said that, we will also be organizing things so that for those of you who bring friends, family (David is bringing his wife) and significant others, we won't be boring them with a tour of some advanced search research facility - they will be able to check out the sights and do some shopping in the meantime.

Tour guides and interpreters will be provided every step of the way, and the fee (TBA) will cover all travel, accomodations, sites and most meals within China. You just have to worry about getting there, and our travel agent can help with that, as well.

We are not including the airfare in the price because people are flying in from everywhere, and some people will want to use points, and others have preferred airlines, etc. But we can help you arrange everything.

The tour will be limited to 50 people maximum, so that it's stays fun and informative, so sign up early!

Here are the blog posts from the trip last year:

Arrive In Beijing
Beijing: Hutong,Tea House, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and the Silk Factory
Beijing: Shopping, BeiHai Park and Belly Dancing
Beijing: Great Wall, Jade Factory, Traditional Village, Dinner Show
Shanghai: Fly in, Nanjing Road Shopping, Acrobats, Night Lights
Shanghai: Confucius Temple, Luggage Shopping, Business and Negotiations
Nanjing: Sun Yat Sen Memorial
Nanjing: SES Day 1, GoogleDance
Nanjing: SES Day 2, VIP Dinner
Posts from other Bloggers about the event.

And the Flickr Set for the tour:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcanerin/sets/72057594087067697/

Ian