In 2013, tourism professionals around the world are closely looking at China. The media has covered the outbound tourism potential from China from many angles, but what is real and what is hype? If you are involved in inbound tourism and looking to international growth market, you probably want to know:
• What major changes and shifts will take place in China over the next few years?
• How open is the market for Chinese visitors now? What can we learn from past development?
• How can my business take advantage of the Chinese travel boom?
• What do we need to do in order to better serve the Chinese market?
• Online travel - is China ready to fully embrace the online revolution?
Immersive Experiences
Chinese tourism is now undoubtedly the most dominant market in the world which will impact on nearly every destination. The impact may be largely positive economically, but also carries risk of overwhelming tourist destinations and adding pressures on resources and communities. In order to know how to increase the positive benefits of the growth in Chinese outbound tourism while mitigating the adverse effects, a close look at the Chinese tourism industry is needed.
Roy Graff, Managing Director of ChinaContact, has closely and personally witnessed this 'Chinese miracle' taking shape over the last 15 years. Working inside China, the changes he experienced taking place in domestic tourism were the pre-curser to what has happened in Asia and around the world.
Over the last 8 years, Roy has given speeches, published a book, blogged and provided training to tourism destinations, hotel groups, tour operators and attractions in an effort to increase their understanding of the Chinese tourists and how to best cater for the market. He believes that the best knowledge comes from personal experience and would like to help tourism organisations and companies gain that experience first hand through a dedicated, expert program created specifically for this purpose.
In mid-October 2013, Roy will personally lead a select group of tourism business leaders from around the world to see the real China. Most tourism professionals interested in China would have already visited Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong and perhaps exhibited at a travel show in one of these metropolises. You have seen the wealth and modernity of China now. But this is just a part of the story. In order to understand what the future holds, a closer look is needed into the effects that tourism has within China on many tourist attractions and at how 2nd, 3rd and 4th tier cities are now producing the next wave of middle class and affluent travellers.
The professionals who join this tour will benefit from a deep analysis of the economic changes and demographic pressures taking place in China, come to understand Chinese culture and business etiquette through direct interaction and personal experience, focusing on GuanXi (relationships) and Lian (face). They will experience how hotels, tourist attractions and travel suppliers are catering to Chinese tourists, meet and conduct business discussions with hand-selected travel agents and corporate buyers in Central and Western China - the new frontier in outbound tourism.
The tour is kindly supported by the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), China Business Services,China Luxury Advisors, and Travel Link Daily.
Highlights of the tour
• Meet tourism officials and travel agents in Chengdu and Kunming
• Witness the influence of Chinese tourism on local destinations and a variety of natural and man made attractions
• Attend lectures on Chinese culture, business etiquette and customs
• Have your China market strategy reviewed and receive custom advice on your business
