Cibeles Plaza, Madrid (Photo provided by tourism office of the Spanish Embassy)

As the social networking services become increasingly popular today, weibo (Chinese micro blogging) marketing has become an important method for many travel agencies in China to promote their services.

At the end of April, Turespana, the administrative unit of Spain's central government in charge of promoting Spain abroad as a tourism destination, launched a picture collection campaign called "the most beautiful Spain"on its official weibo (http://weibo.com/spaintourism), which had received favorable support from lots of internet users. Thousands of followers had participated in the campaign within only one week. They posted pictures and messages regarding "the most beautiful Spain".

The event has already ended and now it is in the phase of evaluation. The organizer will choose some excellent works base on how many times they were forwarded and the number of comments. The winners will be awarded exquisite presents and signed CDs by Chinese pop group 'Yu Quan'.

Ms. Zhu Fanfang, the initiator of the event said that the reason to promote this activity on Sina Weibo is that they value the popularity and participation among users of social networking media. In order to further promote the charm of Spain, the tourism office of the Spanish Embassy also plans to organize an off-line event, which will be a photography exhibition themed "the most beautiful Spain". Meanwhile, the tourism office will also launch a series of tourism promotion activities via social networking media throughout the year. They hope that tourists who are interested in Spain will join them and share the stories of their wonderful time in Spain.

World Heritage Alhambra, Granada (Photo provided by tourism office of the Spanish Embassy)

White towns, Andalucia (Photo provided by tourism office of the Spanish Embassy)