Suzhou attracts worldwide attention

Suzhou's tourism accolades have been coming in thick and fast in recent months. The city has won various travel awards of international appeal, the biggest of which being the Traveler Choice-China's Best Destination for Tourism in 2014, awarded by the U.S.-based website, TripAdvisor. The award was issued based on ratings from travelers across the world.

Suzhou also won the Most Charming Destination for Meeting award from the China Meetings Industry Convention, China's Best Tourism Destination of the Year by the travel channel and China's Best Tourism City from Ctrip – a leading travel agent in china.

Wang Rudong, director of Suzhou Tourism Bureau's Tourism Promotion Department told the press that the prizes won by the city had been generated by a third party tourism platforms based on travelers' experiences. Having devoted himself to tourism in Suzhou for many years, Wang expressed his immense pride in the awards.

Wang said that TripAdvisor mainly provides a database of experiences and comments from travelers and helps them to map their travel plans. The website receives over 280 million visits every month and collects around 170 million comments and recommendations about hotels, restaurants and scenic spots from travelers around the world. Unlike other awards, the trip advisor award is decided on the collective experiences of millions of travelers.

"Besides the excitement of winning awards, our attention is focused on the real experiences of travelers who visit Suzhou," said Wang. In his view, winning this award did not happen by chance. It is Suzhou's rich and diverse tourism resources that Wang believes to be the key driver of its success, be it the city's gardens, ancient towns or unique folk customs found south of the Yangtze River. It is these attractions that attract attention and interest from both international and domestic travelers.

Adding to the city's appeal as a tourist destination, the city has undergone continuous improvements in infrastructure and transportation in recent years.

As the era of Free Independent Travelers (FIT) approaches, travelers become increasingly discerning. Diversified features provide travelers with more options, naturally leading to a better experience and increasing their level of comfort.

Online tourism platforms have enabled far-reaching crowd sourced tourism information, giving people a realistic view of an area or attraction. Facing such a huge number of FITs, other industries closely related the tourism industry, such as scenic areas and hotels, have been quietly improving their services.