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ChinaContact Weekly Newsletter, 22nd April 2014

April 22, 2014 By

 
 
 
ChinaContact
Weekly Newsletter

 

22nd April, 2014
Greetings!
   

For the last couple of weeks, rumors claimed that Baidu’s travel website Qunar was discussing a partnership or even a possible merger with Ctrip the largest OTA in China ( Baidu’s Qunar Said to Be in Merger Talks With Ctrip, Bloomberg). If such a merger would occur Baidu would then be in control of the whole online travel market in China (Ctrip’s Merge With Qunar Will Change China OTA Market, China Internet Watch).

However none of the firms officially confirmed that an online travel service giant was on the making (Firms decline to comment on merger rumors, Global Times) and from the interview Qunar CEO Chenchao Zhuang gave to Skift, Qunar will become the Chinese largest online travel company with or without the participation of Ctrip…

 Read more in our Top Stories of the week.

Last Week’s Headlines 
in the Tourism Sector

Top Stories
Coming to a beach near you
Nearly one in ten international tourists worldwide is now Chinese.
 
More than 80% say that shopping is vital to their plans and they are expected to buy more luxury goods next year while abroad than tourists from all other countries combined.
 
Shops, hotels and other tourist businesses are scrambling to profit from the new arrivals…
Read more

Building China’s largest travel booking site from scratch 

Interview of Qunar CEO: Amidst all the talk about a potential $10 billion mega merger with Ctrip, you have to visit Qunar’s headquarters on Suzhou Street in the Haidian District of Beijing to fully appreciate why Qunar co-founder and CEO Chenchao “CC” Zhuang likes his competitive position and “prefers to manage the largest online travel company in China.”… 

Read more

China outbound Tourism:

Yuan’s recent depreciation has limited impact on outbound tourism: The current depreciation of the yuan will only show its effects after May…
Top-Ranked destinations for Chinese tourists in 1Q2014: New Zealand, the US, and Canada to be the most satisfying destinations for Chinese tourists in first quarter…

Travel destinations for China Tourism :

Italy simplifies visa rules for Chinese applicants: Chinese citizens are now allowed to apply for visas at the Italian Embassy in Beijing or at a consulate general closest to their place of residence…

Does Australia make it hard for Chinese tourists to apply for a visa? Australia does not accept online visa applications from China, and Chinese people have to apply in English… 

Thailand attracting Chinese tourists to the 2014 Songkran festivities: many China-based airlines flying to Thailand are reporting a load factor of 80-90% for the Songkran period (14-20 April 2014)…

China-Israel journeys up 30% in 2013: The rapid development of bilateral commercial, technological, agricultural exchanges helped realize 30,000 journeys from China to Israel last year… 

Zambia Tourism Board seeks to woo Chinese tourists: In its marketing plan for 2014, ZTB had targeted China as a strategic source market for increased tourist arrivals to Zambia… 

Social Media :

Almost all Weibo messages are generated by just 5 per cent of users: The reach of Weibo could be significantly smaller than the company has stated in the past…

WeChat still lags Weibo for brand recall, not a good marketing tool yet: Brands are putting high expectations on Wechat marketing potential; However, it has several limitations…
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If you have China related stories or questions to contribute, send them to us by email [email protected].

Make sure to get in touch if you are attending any of the industry events where I will be speaking or attending, as it is always good to have a face to face introduction or catch up. List of upcoming events is below.
Sincerely, from the ChinaContact Team

 
Disclaimer: With the exception of articles published on the ChinaContact blog, articles mentioned and linked in this newsletter have been curated to bring you news and information about topics relating to Chinese outbound tourism. The opinions expressed in these articles are of the authors only and are not endorsed by ChinaContact. We make every attempt to verify the accuracy of news stories. We are not held liable for any inaccuracies or misrepresentations in these articles.
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Pioneering China market entry specialist for the Luxury Tourism and Retail sectors. 
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Plan-Ahead 
China Focused or Related Events 

- 2014 World Travel Fair, WTF, 9-11 May. Shanghai Exhibition Center (SEC), Shanghai.
 
- 2014 Travel Distribution Summit Asia, TDS Asia,
27-28 May, Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore
 
- 2014 International Luxury Travel Market Asia, ILTM Asia : 2-5 June, Shanghai.

- Travel Distribution Summit China,

TDS China, 3- 4
September, Shanghai
 
- Incentives, Business Travel and Meetings Expo China,
CIBTM, 17-19 September, Beijing 
 
- 2014 World Travel Market, WTM: 3-6 November. ExCeL, London.

- China International Travel Mart, CITM 13-16 November, Shanghai

 

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