The Irish Embassy in Beijing as well as Consuls General Therese Healy in Shanghai and Peter Ryan in Hong Kong, were working closely with Tourism Ireland to boost Ireland’s interests, Mr Kavanagh said. The Embassy in Beijing is in the process of appointing a press and public diplomacy attaché.

Beijing has begun to practice what can perhaps be termed the "Offer Diplomacy" even with its neighboring countries: Buy one, get one free; and buy now, pay later
 

By 2020, it's estimated more than 200 million Chinese will go overseas - double the number that did so last year. "It has been one of the biggest dreams for Chinese travelers to go outside and travel overseas," says Chen Xu, a Beijing-based researcher at the Chinese Tourism Academy, a government think-tank that studies tourism trends." And now the government has lifted restrictions on outbound travel, so for more Chinese, it's much easier to travel abroad."