Leo:
I want to again thank you for both your generosity and professionalism in the Metro Cities Council trip to China. As you saw and heard firsthand, the trip provided most all attendees their first direct view and experience of China. They were all very impressed with all accommodations and with the professionalism your people displayed. Having travelled to China for over 20 years now, it never ceases to amaze me how dramatic the changes are that occur between each visit (about 12 trips now for me). So I hope this is not just a onetime experience for A.C.C.E., but rather something we consider on a regular basis.
Thank you again and I look forward to visiting with you soon.
Roy H. Williams
President & CEO
Greater Oklahoma City Chamber
Leo:
The Grand Junction contingent just returned from China and the response from our people was just amazing. Everyone, without exception, was impressed and excited about the experience. I first want to thank you and your China crew for an outstanding experience. Secondly, I would like to schedule another trip for Grand Junction. I know that our trip sign ups did not meet our expectations this first time but I think we will have a much greater participation level for our second trip. Therefore I d like to reserve up to 100 spots for Spring of 2010. Let me know the dates as soon as you can so we can leverage our recent trip publicity to get sign ups going much earlier for this next trip. Thanks again for the VIP treatment!
Diane Schwenke
President/CEO
Grand Junction Chamber
Leo:
Just back from China and I wanted to let you know that the group had a terrific experience in China and our tour guides were exceptional! Both Richard and Jackie did a great job educating us and sharing information with the group (in fact, we would like to request both of them again for our November 10 trip).
It was great meeting Peter and Katie and we look forward to working with you again soon.
Laurie Forte
Chief Operations Officer
Grand Rapids Chamber
Leo:
I just received a phone call from one of the individuals from our area who attended the China trip. The woman, Gail Dunn, is from a very successful family in SW Indiana and has traveled throughout the world. She called me from New York, having just arrived there from her visit to China. I want you to know that she was raving about the trip, and she described it as “exceptional”. She further had very high praise for the tour guides. Another attendee from the University of Evansville thought the trip was great, and indicated that the University would be interested in partnering with our Chamber on a future trip. She wants to promote the trip to their alumni, and believes they could muster a bus load of attendees from the university. Although our number of attendees was light for this first trip, I believe the attendees will make great ambassadors for a future trip, and our numbers will likely jump significantly.Thanks for taking good care of the people from SW Indiana, Leo. Can we begin discussions regarding a future trip
Matt Meadors
President & CEO
The Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana
Dear Leo:
It’s hard to believe that the trip is now behind us, and we are now thinking about 2010! What an incredible experience our first China trip was from start to finish. Your tour guides were exceptional, and the flow of activities perfectly laid out. Our rooms were fantastic, and everything was just as you had presented to us. Our guests on the trip gave many testimonials, all saying that they had a wonderful time.
I especially want to commend Sunny and Marco for the excellent presentations they gave to our group, as well as the exceptional service they provided to all of us. They really made sure everyone’s needs were taken care of and that they were having a good time.
We even have one person on the trip who is now interested in doing business in China . We will be working with him to help him advance his connections. The business mixer was an opportunity that I wish more people would take advantage of ¨C but it was hard to compete with massages that were being offered at the same time. I will follow up with Ping Ping regarding some leads.
We had the opportunity to meet the other chambers, and they seemed to be having a good time as well.
Our bus drivers did a great job of keeping everyone safe and getting us to our destination points.
Leo, thank you for bringing this opportunity to us. Many chambers have been waiting for us to return, and I have received many calls and given them positive feedback. I am headed to a conference tomorrow with the Maryland and Pennsylvania Chambers and many attendees have asked me to report. So I am bringing pictures and video along with me to show and answer questions. Hopefully this will help give the push to get these chambers to go ¨C I will do my best.
Again, many thanks. I look forward to continuing to work with you.
Sally Haas, President
Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce
More comments from tour groups:
We all had a wonderful time. Our group was a blast, we were on the go the whole time, saw a lot, did a lot, had great accommodations, and Citslinc did a great job with the tour and guides.
———-Carolyn Hays, Riverside CA
I enjoyed enjoy the trip very much (as did my wife). Despite the fact that we had 4 of the eight as vegetarians, I think that everybody ate pretty well. Most of the non-veg items were very good, except some of the seafood was unidentifiable as to what it was (but mostly tasted good). The guides were fine too. We had just 8 people, it became quite a fun group. I can’t wait to get notice of any more upcoming trips.
———-Raj Bera, Ontario CA
We had a wonderful time! The weather was quite good-
-only had rain the last day and not hard. The guides took
good care of us. There were 4 of us who were vegetarians
and they provided quite a few vegetable dishes–many more than I was expecting. On the way into Hangzhou the bus even went by the hospital LomaLinda University helped develop that I wanted to see. (Our guide was from Hangzhou and knew of it.) Thanks again for all your hard work in putting this together.
———-Darold Retzer, Redland CA
My husband and I just returned from a Mission Trip to China with the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce group from Rapid City, South Dakota. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the wonderful experience we enjoyed while traveling China. The tour guides that we had on our bus, “Jason and Jack,” were excellent at taking good care of our group and guiding us with information about all of the areas we visited. I extend my thanks to them as well. I did not gather an email address for either of these young men. Please forward this email to each of them if that is possible. Once again, thank you for a terrific experience in China.
———Carol Jobman, Hill City SD
I had a great time and learned alot about the Chinese people, too. Although I stopped at McDonald’s on the way home, I also enjoyed the Chinese food, too. I would recommend this trip to anyone I meet.
———–Bob Russell, Temecula CA
Overall, it was a great experience. We felt comfortable and safe the entire time. The tour guides were great. Everyone in the group learned a lot and had a great time.
———–Scott Senatore, Greenville-Pitt Chamber
The trip was a nice blend of history and culture. Everyone was impressed with the organization of the trip. The guides were outstanding and not only spoke fluent English, but had a good understanding of the language. The hotels were phenomenal and it was always nice to come back to a clean and beautiful room after a long day. The breakfasts were always popular. While there was a good bit of “shopping” involved it was always preceded with some educational program that explained the process involved and the importance of the product to China.
————-Mary Kay Durham, Carlisle, PA
