Top tips for attracting Chinese visitors revealed at China Tourism Forum during WTM London 2019
The China Tourism Forum was successfully held on 5th November 2019, provided great opportunities for Destination Promotion Authorities of national, regional and local level, as well as local service suppliers and incoming operators with the opportunity to learn from experts in outbound travel from China.
The China Tourism Forum was successfully held on 5
th November during WTM London 2019. Dr. Adam Wu, CEO of
CBN Travel & MICE and
World Travel Online was the organizer and moderator of the forum, Dr. Taleb Rifai, Former Secretary of UNWTO; Ms. Bonnie Carlson, President & CEO of
Bloomington Convention & Visitors Bureau, MN; Mr. Paul Pennicook, CEO of
Curaçao Tourist Board; Mr. Tom Jenkins, CEO of ETOA; Mr. Desale Mitiku, CEO of
Grand Holidays Ethiopia Tours; along with Ms. Lisa Dinh, Tourism Director of
VIA Outlets, were invited as speakers.
The main objective of the China Tourism Forum was to provide Destination Promotion Authorities of national, regional and local level, as well as local suppliers and incoming operators, with the opportunity to learn from experts in outbound travel from China.
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The forum attracted many destination promotion organizations, local service suppliers and incoming operators. | Dr. Taleb Rifai, former Secretary-General of UNWTO, was giving his speech as the Key Note Speaker at the China Tourism Forum. |
According to the latest report of UNWTO, Chinese have already made 81 million trips so far this year compared with a total of 150 million last year. They are the world’s highest spenders on overseas travel, splashing out $277 billion last year, which was twice as much as Americans, six times more than the French and four times more than the British.
Whilst previously Chinese preferred to travel in groups, 56% now take FIT (Free Independent Traveller) trips. “There is widespread information available, 1.2 billion are using WeChat, we go directly to you, the incoming service providers,” said Adam WU, CEO of CBN Travel. “The Chinese FITs like to book directly with the service providers. You might want to be ready.”
European destinations working closely with China to increase visitor numbers have seen big rises, including Croatia, up 540%, Latvia, up 523%, and
Slovenia, up 497%.
What Chinese visitors want are heritage, culture and authentic experiences, said Wu. More than 20% said attractions were their most important consideration, followed by food (15%) and shopping (6.5%).
“To the Chinese, heritage matters. We pay attention to this,” added Wu. “Anything that we have seen on film is also important, I take my daughter to anything to do with Harry Potter, it’s not heritage but when they have seen a film they want to experience the real thing.”
He said tourism businesses needed to make it easy for Chinese visitors by having websites in their language, guides able to communicate with them, and payment via WeChat. “You need to make it easy for Chinese to pay, I can guarantee that someone who has WeChat pay will get more sales than one that doesn’t. We want easy of spending.”
The speakers also shared their experience on how to attract and cater for increasing numbers and an ever changing demand from a variety of Chinese visitors.
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| Dr. Adam Wu took a group photo with the speakers after the China Tourism Forum ended. | Dr. Wu took a photo with Mr Amjad Nashashibi at Swiss Quality Hotels International and other travel trade who attended the forum. |
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