Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Jiazila Nesbek) news: On the first day of 2024, a new journey was embarked upon in the largest foreign trade market in northwest China -- the Urumqi Bianjiang Hotel Business and Trade Market. New vitality displayed by this time-honored brand market is inspiring. It is a comprehensive service platform that integrates accommodation, catering, commercial market, warehousing logistics, and customs clearance services. The functions of the hotel are being further developed and utilized. Hotel services are being continuously optimized, foreign trade procurement is growing, logistics is more convenient, and business formats are more diverse.

Photo taken on January 1, 2024 shows international road transport vehicles carrying full load of goods are weighed at the warehousing and logistics area of Urumqi Bianjiang Hotel Commercial and Trade Market in Tianshan District, Urumqi City, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily/ Jiazila Nesbek)

Steady development of core business

On the afternoon of January 1, 2024, several foreign tourists entered the VIP building of the Bianjiang Hotel and went to the lobby to check in. Several waiters were busy preparing dinner for the guests in the corridor on the right side of the lobby. And in the banquet hall directly facing the lobby, a wedding was about to be held...

Unlike the chill of the snowy outdoors, the accommodation and catering business inside the Bianjiang Hotel is steaming hot, allowing everyone who enters to the warmth.

In 2023, Bianjiang Hotel optimized its hotel and catering services. The original self-operated restaurant in the VIP building was leased to merchants as a whole, enriching the catering format and providing venues and services for both small gatherings and large-scale events.

“After the renovation, the unique local cuisine and distinctive decorations are popular among customers, and these private rooms are almost booked out every day,” said Malika Mohe, the executive director of Xinjiang Laleli Catering Management Co., Ltd., which operates the catering business in the VIP building of the Bianjiang Hotel.

Not only do guests come and go at the Bianjiang Hotel, but there are also many long-term tenants who use their accommodation rooms as office spaces, welcoming guests and completing business deals. The mature supporting facilities around the hotel enable guests who come to the Bianjiang Hotel for tourism or purchasing to receive more satisfactory services.

“Accommodation is one of the core businesses of the Bianjiang Hotel. It used to be one of the best hotels in Urumqi, and with its active foreign trade economy, it holds a unique position in the minds of Chinese and foreign business people. And we want to further polish this golden signboard through optimizing the accommodation environment,” said Zhang Jinzhu.

Optimizing service to promote investment

The buildings in the warehousing and logistics area of the Bianjiang Hotel appear to be somewhat old. In one of the buildings, Parida Mamat, customer service manager of Xinjiang Bairekai Logistics Co., Ltd., was receiving businessmen from Uzbekistan.

“Don't be fooled by the appearance of these buildings, this is where the gold is hidden. I receive nearly a hundred businessmen every week, 60 percent of whom purchase goods in Xinjiang and leave us to finish the transportation part. In particular, Bianjiang Hotel has actively introduced TIR international road transport vehicles, making our logistics much more convenient,” said the 60-year-old Parida with a smile.

Since 2017, the company has been stationed in the Bianjiang Hotel, Parida has been working tirelessly on the front line. She said she couldn't sit still and wanted her employees to have a better income. Now, the company undertakes 60 percent of the goods volume of the Bianjiang Hotel.

In the 1990s, Bianjiang Hotel established large-scale customs supervision areas. Today, goods declared at this location can be directly transported to more than 20 foreign cities, such as Moscow in Russia, Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Almaty in Kazakhstan, etc.

As Bianjiang Hotel places greater emphasis on providing excellent services to businessmen, logistics companies have also begun to offer one-stop services such as pick-up and delivery of people and orders. Some business people will pass through Urumqi to place orders in Zhejiang, Guangzhou and other places, and the logistics companies of the Bianjiang Hotel also provide them the same services. “This is also a measure to accumulate word-of-mouth and attract more visitors,” said Fan Zhiyong, deputy manager of Beitun Bianjiang Xinshun Import and Export Trading Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Bianjiang Hotel.

For a time, due to the poor performance of foreign trade, the occupancy rate of shops in the Bianjiang Hotel declined. The hotel adjusted its strategy in time and actively sought investment by offering a preferential policy of free rental for half a year, attracting a number of cultural and creative enterprises such as photography studios, software development companies, artist studios, and psychological counseling services.

“We have been here for more than two years. Transportation is convenient and the service is comprehensive. We can focus on our business without worry,” said Abdumutalip Akbar, head of Xinjiang Juxikun Culture Media Co., Ltd., which mainly engages in software development.

“Bianjiang Hotel is the largest foreign trade specialized market in Urumqi. Products sold here are diverse, including clothing, shoes and hats, daily necessities, hardware building materials, toys, electronic auto parts, household appliances, etc. All the goods people need can be purchased in this market,” said Boboyev Emomali, a businessman from Tajikistan who has been purchasing at the Bianjiang Hotel for a long time.

The Bianjiang logistics industry park under the Bianjiang Hotel is a primary market mainly engaged in dry fruit wholesale. It provides free live streaming rooms for merchants and promotes online and offline sales platforms, and guides merchants to carry out online promotional activities during important online shopping time nodes.

Currently, there are more than 4,500 shops in the Bianjiang Hotel with a rental rate of 65 percent, an increase of 18 percent year-on-year.

Piloting new trade method

“I would like to do business on the 'Xin Mao Tong' 1039 platform. Can you tell me what procedures I need to go through?” Liu Xiaobo said on January 1, 2024, he is a shoe seller in the Bianjiang Hotel, and went into the “Xin Mao Tong” market procurement trade comprehensive service center for consultation.

Photo taken on January 1, 2024 shows Liu Xiaobo, a merchant at the Urumqi Bianjiang Hotel Business and Trade Market, showcases shoes for export in his own shop in Tianshan District, Urumqi City, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo by Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily/ Jiazila Nesbek)

In September 2022, Bianjiang Hotel was approved as the sixth batch of pilot program for the pilot market procurement trade mode (customs supervision code is "1039") in China. The pilot market procurement trade mode is a new type of trade mode created by the State to promote international trade, aimed at markets with multiple varieties, small batches and multiple batches. It has policy advantages such as low entry threshold, simple declaration procedures, fast customs clearance and export, preferential tax policies (exemption from VAT), and flexible foreign exchange management.

“Bianjiang Hotel is especially suitable for the market procurement trade mode. With the support of governments at all levels in the autonomous region, especially customs at all levels, the Department of Commerce of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Urumqi Municipal Bureau of Commerce and other units, we have successfully declared.” Zhu Zhiwei, Party secretary and chairman of Xinjiang Bianjiang Hotel Co., Ltd. said.

In 2023, Bianjiang Hotel launched the “Xin Mao Tong” comprehensive service platform for market procurement trade. This online platform has two ends: the government end and the enterprise end. On the government end, relevant departments regulate the entire trade process in a reasonable and compliant manner through the online platform, achieving “traceability at the source, accountability, and controllable risks.” The enterprise end provides five major services including business registration, export agency, international logistics, customs clearance services, and foreign exchange settlement for individual business owners and small and micro enterprises engaged in market procurement trade.

On December 4, 2023, Xinjiang Bianjiang Hotel Co., Ltd. declared an export trade volume of over 100 million yuan (about 0.14 million U.S. dollars) through the market procurement trade mode.

In order to create a “great channel” for connecting with the international market, Bianjiang Hotel has strengthened its passenger transportation service system. By the end of October 2023, it had successfully added the international highway passenger transportation service station of China Xinjiang Taiyun Yuanying Transport (Group) Co., Ltd. to Bianjiang Hotel, and introduced ticket sales points and US dollar exchange points to better serve domestic and foreign customers.

"Bianjiang Hotel is a mature foreign trade market, and with the entry policy improving, foreign business people increased one after another. Adding service station in the Bianjiang Hotel is convenient for Chinese and foreign merchants to travel," Umar Kasim, vice board chairman of Xinjiang Taiyun Yuanying Transport (Group) Co., Ltd., said.

“We are negotiating with the Party Committee of Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture to set up a trade logistics company in the local area, which will make foreign trade to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and other countries more convenient and smooth in the future.” Xakirjan Sulayman, deputy Party secretary and general manager of Xinjiang Bianjiang Hotel Co., Ltd., said, “We are also building a cross-border e-commerce industrial park for trade and logistics in Xinjiang to inject new vitality into Xinjiang's foreign trade development.”

(A written permission shall be obtained for reprinting, excerpting, copying and mirroring of the contents published on this website. Unauthorized aforementioned act shall be deemed an infringement, of which the actor shall be held accountable under the law.)