A 26-year-old~Londoner has been chosen as the new ambassador for the city of Hangzhou in a first for Chinese tourism.
Liam Bates was selected after a worldwide search to find someone to encourage visits from foreign nationals to Hangzhou and China.
He will be paid €40,000 to spend a year promoting Hangzhou on social media, with the aim of encouraging more visitors to the city in south eastern China.
This is the first time a global recruitment campaign has been held to find a foreign ambassador for a Chinese city.
The ‘Be the Modern Marco Polo Program’ was launched by the Hangzhou Tourism Commission’s Facebook page in March 2013 and attracted 26,000 applications.
The success of the Modern Marco Polo campaign led to~Hangzhou~being the most Googled destination in~China~last year.
Having grown up in the UK and Switzerland, Bates studied at the University of British Columbia in Canada.
He currently lives in Beijing, having first visited China as a 17-year-old.
His career has included hosting travel shows on Chinese television and speaking at universities and events around the world.
