Becoming a China-Ready Destination
By Bethany, Social Media Strategist | April 18, 2019
According to the Telegraph, by 2030 the China tourism market will account for a quarter of the international tourism market. Including hotels and airfare, the average Chinese traveler spends $7,200 on a trip to the U.S. If your destination is not prepared to welcome this market, it’s time to consider working with your
partners to become China-Ready.
We’ve been working on a project for our client, Rockland County Tourism, to make the county a China-Ready destination. In this market, it takes time to lay down a foundation for trust, build relationships, and establish repeat visitation.
There are preliminary steps to take to sell your destination to this audience:
Market Research
As with all markets, it is important to do your homework. Chinese travelers have very different habits and expectations than Americans, such as how they prefer to travel. Many travel with agents or tour operators in large groups. This way, they get negotiated group rates for hotel stays, shopping purchases, and even meals. The most important reason to do market research however, is to keep up with chagning trends. For example, Free Independent Travel (FIT) is becoming more popular with the China market.
Build Partner Relationships
You also need to establish relationships between you as the DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) and your local tourism partners. You will need to build a list of attractions, restaurants, and hotels that are willing to accomodate these groups. These groups expect discounts or exclusive deals, and your partners will need to offer those.
China-Ready Training
Once you have partners on-board, set up China-Ready training sessions/seminars. When we did this for Rockland County, we held a session for hotels, specifically. In this session, we taught the hotels about the amenities
that will make Chinese visitors comfortable, such as in-room tea kettles and
slippers, and alternatives to traditional American breakfast foods.
Translated Material
Chinese tour operators are impressed if you give them translated marketing materials, which is easier for them to give to their customers. Work with a translation services company to get your sell sheets translated as a starter. Try to use a reliable plugin to translate your website to Mandarin.
Interested in learning more about how to work with the Chinese traveler? Send me an email to discuss further: bethany@bbggadv.com.
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