Wolfgang Georg Arlt is the founder and director of China Outbound Tourism Research Institute(COTRI) since 2004 with offices in Hamburg/Germany and Beijing.
Born in February 26th, 1957, he grew up in Berlin (West-Germany) and studied Sinology in Berlin, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
He visited Mainland China for the first time in 1978 and more than 150 times so far.
In the 1990s he was the owner of an inbound tour operator with offices in Berlin and Beijing.
It is already ten years he has been a full-time professor for International Tourism Management at Fachhochschule Westküste in Germany.
He is frequently quoted in all major international media including CNN, Time Magazine, The Times, The Economist, South China Morning Post.
And since November 2013 he has published articles mainly on Chinese Tourism on Forbes.
He works for international organisations, companies and governments around the world.