Last month Routes, part of UBM Live, revealed that Routes Asia will make a return to China in 2015 when the event will be held in Kunming, the capital and largest city of Yunnan province in Southwest China. The forum will take place March 15-17, 2015 and will be hosted by Yunnan Airport Group Co., Ltd. owners of Kunming Changshui International Airport, and supported by their partners Yunnan Provincial Civil Aviation Development and Management Bureau and Yunnan Provincial Tourism Development Commission.

This will be the fifth time that a Routes event has taken place in China. In 2007 Routes Asia was held in Hainan and the following year the event took place in Macau. World Routes 2009 took place in Beijing and, most recently, Routes Asia 2012 took place in Chengdu, hosted by Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.

The HUB caught up with the Yunnan delegation after a hosting meeting with senior members of the UBM Live and Routes teams at World Routes in Las Vegas and spoke to Qilong Guo, Deputy Director, Airport Marketing Department, Yunnan Airport Group to find out a little more about their reasons for hosting the event and plans for development.

With its beautiful landscapes and mild climate the Yunnan province is one of China’s major tourist destinations. Located at an altitude of 1,900m above sea level the city of Kunming, known as the ‘City of Eternal Spring’, enjoys an average temperature of 15°C. The perpetual spring-like weather provides the ideal climate for plants and flowers to flourish. This ideal ecological environment, along with the countless natural lakes in the region, creates beautiful landscapes which have made this destination a popular holiday resort in China.

Kunming’s Changshui International Airport (KMG) is located just 27km northeast of Kunming city centre and is the 7th largest airport in China with the most rapidly growing number of passengers. In 2012 the airport welcomed 23.98 million passengers and provided connection to 116 destinations such as Dubai, Seoul and Kuala Lumpur operated by 34 airlines.

As a national hub airport connecting Southeast Asia, South Asia and Europe, KMG is the fourth largest hub in China, following Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and is also the most important gateway hub in western China. It is one of the world’s leading eco-friendly airports which was planned, designed and built on the principle of being energy saving, environmentally friendly and traveller friendly based on modern technologies.