Travel Distribution Summit Asia 2014 will take place in Singapore on May 27-28th, read more HERE

This is a collection of tweets from this event.

• Busy room, over 100 people. Majority have been to China. Talk starts with population background, very basic stuff.
• ‎32 mln people employed in tourism in China. 12,000 travel agencies and 300,000 hotels
• Rail network in China highly developed (puts US to shame really). Domestic tourism grows to Lhasa, Hainan and Taiwan. Lhasa is exotic. Hainan is the Chinese Hawaii, Taiwan is the new hot spot recently opened up. ‎(missed out top destinations like Beijing, Hangzhou, Xian)
• ‎(Taiwan not strictly domestic tourism. Need visa, different currency. Politically sensitive issue) the forbidden City treasures are kept in then Taipei National Palace museum.
• Inbound tourism boosted by global events hosted in China like Olympics, World Expo, F1, Asian Games etc.
• China Olympic Games was a showcase to confirm China’s position on the world stage. World Expo was about the world coming to woo Chinese visitors.4.4 foreign visitors.
• 2010 saw 55 million visitors. That includes Taiwan, Hkg.
• China 3rd destination in the world. Only 5 destinations offer sufficient service level to foreign visitors. Beijing is 4th destination city, want to have 10 million visitors by 2016.
• HKG is here included as Chinese destination. Not sure they will agree with that. For MICE the destinations are just SHA and BEJ.
• Beijing’s Olympic legacy left great convention centers and infrastructure for major events.55 hotels of 5*.
• SITE to meet in Beijing during CIBTM.
• Incentive trips mostly go to Shanghai. ICCA to meet in SHA in 2013.
• Outbound leisure travel: 1500 outbound licensed agencies. 3 JV operators got outbound license. JTB, TUI, AMEX-CITS. Only large JV at the moment,
• Internet growth drives access to information on destinations. From 384 mln in 2009 to 551 mln by 2012 (expected).
• (stats on demand for outbound is sourced on UNWTO study from 2003. Very outdated) the number of approved destinations (ADS) is now 135 at least. Asia destination at the top are Japan, Korea, Singapore. HKG and Macau are the top but are part of China culturally.
• Outbound MICE: demand for Australia,SE Asia, Dubai.
• Corporate travel to other BRIC nations and SE Asia.
• Singapore investing heavily for Chinese incentive and meetings as well as leisure. Building casinos and entertainment.
• Conclusion: China not right for everyone. Most impact in and around Asia. Total numbers mask the bias towards China and its surroundings.
• And need help of experts to facilitate relationships and tailor the product.

I am writing only from my perspective and focusing on the tourism implications of the Games, both for inbound and outbound tourism. When a national government spends more than 40 billion dollars on a single event and mobilizes an entire country’s energies for the sake of 2 weeks of sports, it is bound to raise many questions on the effects this will have for the future. For example:
Are Chinese feeling more cosmopolitan now?
have they more confidence to travel abroad knowing how well their country’s athletes performed on the international stage?
Did the Olympics stimulate more demand for sports themed tours and holidays both at home and abroad?
Does the rest of the world have a better understanding of China now and is more likely to visit?
Will the Olympic Village become the latest Disney theme park? Will someone have to pay back all the expense?

I wish to reflect on some of these issues while much more will be tackled during panel discussions at the WTM-ChinaContact forum on November 12 in London. Several experts including tourism officials, academics and private sector professionals with long experience in China will look at the events of the past year and their effects on tourism to and from China in the short and long term.

What did it feel like to see the city I first visited in 1996 host the greatest event on earth in 2008?

On my first visit to Beijing I remember it as very grey. People wore grey; the buildings were grey; their mood was pretty grey too. In restaurants there were stones in the rice, more oil than food in most dishes and no service to speak of. A Chinese woman who went out with a foreigner was thought of as a prostitute and police would bust into hotel rooms if they heard there was a mixed couple in there. Tourists could only buy things at the Friendship Store and the foreign exchange certificates had just been abolished.

Since that time I have come to regard Beijing as familiar ground and lived there in 2004. It still felt less modern and more ‘Chinese’ compared to Shanghai. Then came the winning bid to host the Olympics and the entire city’s energy was harnessed to prepare for the games. When I arrived in early 2008 after a 6 month absence there were entire city areas that I could not recognize. Over the last 3 months the experience of living in Beijing was drastically different. I cannot give an emphatic endorsement to all the changes but some things have improved for sure (whether all improvements will last is anyone’s guess).

What’s changed in the city because of the Olympics?

• There are many more shopping outlets and various restaurants. They are also more expensive.
• The transportation system has improved but still requires a lot more development.

• The modernity of the city threatens to turn it into another Shanghai or HKG and lose its authentic feel. This is especially noticeable around Houhai and the newly re-opened Qianmen.
• Fewer people re spitting or throwing littler in the streets.
• Taxi drivers have all been made to wear identical uniforms and neckties.
• The architecture is diverse and interesting. There is more use of colour everywhere.
• The city has been greened – trees and flowers everywhere. Not all of it will last past the Olympics since Beijing is a dry place and water is at a premium. Much of the greenery is potted flowers and plants hung up at weird unnatural angles and clearly will not survive for very long.
• There is a brand new park in the north, but it will not be accessible to ordinary folks until 2009.
• Chinese people are displaying great enthusiasm for the Games and sports in general.
• The air quality has improved eventually, and noticeably. It is pleasant to sit at an outdoor café which is a very new experience for me in Beijing. But how long will this last, once the Paralympics are over and industry tries to catch up with a backlog of orders to put the economy back on the same fast pace as 2007?

The international media seems to admire China’s logistical performance in staging the Games but to criticize some of the measures that were taken to ensure a smooth run. These measures include clearing the city of potential trouble makers (minorities mostly), taking half the cars off the road, not allowing any protests (3 parks were set aside for officially sanctioned protests but no permits were given out), going nuts with security measures like baggage x-ray machines at underground stations. Terrorism is a real threat these days and many of these precautions are sadly needed. London is even more of a target and will have to grapple with getting the balance right between security and warm welcome.

After the competitions we can look back at a successful and memorable Olympics for the sporting accomplishments and the management of the event. But what about the tourism benefits that the Olympics are supposed to bring to the host? Arguably China can most benefit from hosting the Games in the area of inbound tourism. In this aspect it seems a missed opportunity since the experience of visitors to the Olympics contained very little of China’s rich culture and tourism treasures. I am certain everyone who visited Beijing went to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, and maybe watched Chinese acrobatics show. But were they exposed enough to China’s vast wealth of tourist destinations to make them want to make a repeat visit? Did they get a feel of the fantastic food and hospitality China has to offer? Not really. The food inside the Olympic venues was truly awful – the worst representation of junk food pushed by the sponsors. No healthy food choices, nothing that any athletes will really want to eat. Overall this was a sanitized, efficient operation that lacked fun and pleasant surprise.

What we can say for certain is that people around the world watched the coverage of the Olympics on a massive scale, including great ratings for NBC’s Olympic broadcasts in the USA. They have seen a different side to China that could induce them to consider it as a destination in future if sufficient marketing efforts follow.

Let’s look more closely at the opportunities for tourism promotion China could have seized and what London could learn from that in 2012:

• Food: China’s 23 provinces each comes with its own culture and culinary tradition. Beijing normally provides for all of these traditions with outlets from high-end restaurants to open market stalls. During the Olympics, many food outlets owned and operated by minorities from Xinjiang and Tibet were closed down as their owners and staff were required to leave the city. Open air food streets were closed for hygiene reasons. Most spectators on package tours ate western food most of the time. The catering at Olympic venues was dismal – consisting of dry packed goods and soft drinks from the sponsor. Where hot food was available it again was provided by the sponsor – a certain junk food producing global company; and that sold out even before the events started.
• Travel: The heavy security measures at airports and transport terminals made touring around the country difficult and less pleasant. Visa application prior to the Olympics was made harder and put off prospective tourists not heading to the Olympics.
• Culture: China often makes a case for its diversity pointing to its many ethnic minority groups and their distinct culture and heritage. Aside from dressing children in colourful clothes during the opening ceremony, nothing was made of this and instead there was a focus on uniformity and unity. Needless to say that this was probably a decision made based on the dissent shown in Tibet earlier in the year but it was a shame for the world not to see the rich diversity of people in China.

Britain does not have the limitless resources of China or indeed the enthusiastic and unquestioning support of its population. But it has an interesting and diverse culture, which I hope will be showcased in a meaningful way. It also has a multi-ethnic population that can contribute to greater connection with the visitors from around the world if they are engaged and asked to participate.

A few Chinese friends said to me it seemed strange to see an enthic Indian girl coming out to receive the football from the Chinese child during the handover ceremony, representing the UK. This shows the amount of work left to do to explain modern Britain to the rest of the world, and the Olympics present the perfect opportunity – let’s’ not waste it.

Roy Graff is Managing Director of ChinaContact and a fluent Chinese speaker who has lived in China and the UK working in tourism. He is the director of the WTM-ChinaContact forum at World Travel Market, 12 November 2008 in Excel, London and consults destination tourism boards, hotel groups and travel companies on access to the Chinese market. ChinaContact offer Western organizations tourism and hospitality representation services in China incorporating marketing, PR and sales and offer Chinese tourism destination assistance with international marketing.

Roy co-wrote and updated the China Outbound Travel Handbook, now available in a free downloadable PDF format from the ChinaContact Tourism Network.
For further information: www.chinacontact.co.uk

London, UK 01 July 2008: With the strong support of VisitBritain, China National Tourism Administration, Visit London, Kunming Municipal Tourism Board and the Pacific Asia Travel Association, top experts from tourism bodies and travel companies intimately involved in China are meeting at World Travel Market in London on the 12th of November. For a full day, these experts are sharing their case studies with delegates from China, Europe, America, Africa and the Middle East at Europe’s premier travel trade exhibition.
Since 1999, China has embarked on an unprecedented rate of travel industry growth domestically and internationally. This rate is expected to remain stable at over 10% for the next 12 years, on course to make China the top tourist destination and tourism source market before 2020. While the size of the market for travel products and services is potentially huge, generating real profits has remained an elusive goal for many reasons. Most important of these is the communication and cultural gap, followed closely by restrictive legal and financial policies still in place in China.

2008 has been a turbulent year so far – the euphoria of Beijing holding the Olympic games and the tragic earthquake in Western China. These events and other developments are having serious impacts on the state of the tourism industry in China. The WTM-ChinaContact forum is the only event outside China that can discuss these developments with authority. Through forums and interactive panel discussions delegates deepen their insight of China as a tourism market and destination.

This landmark event held at the premier international travel trade exhibition, World Travel Market, is now in its third year. Support is given from international organisations and industry leaders as well as global travel trade media partners. Following on from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, unprecedented media attention falls on China. No travel organisation can afford to miss this rare opportunity for real knowledge and networking with Chinese travel professionals. A delegation of Chinese tourism officials and travel agents as well as travel trade media will be visiting during WTM. Networking opportunities will be available to maximise the benefits to forum delegates.
Focusing on the need for bi-lateral tourism development, the forum returns to the themes of it’s inaugural year as China tries to embrace it’s new status as a mainstream destination and sought after source market. With the US added to the list of approved tourist destinations there is almost no limit to where Chinese can travel.
The forum will open with welcome speeches from representatives of Visit Britain, China National Tourism Administration and PATA.

Highlights of the forum:
China Outbound tourism
• Eminent China tourism expert Professor Wolfgang Arlt will discuss the impact of various events on China’s tourism sector in the coming year.
• Rosita Yiu heads Accor Hotels’ Asian sales. She shares her experience of marketing accommodation to Chinese visitors.
• Insights into the experience of different foreign tourism organisations and companies in China will be given by Roy Graff, Managing Director of ChinaContact.
• A full speaker list is available from the forum website

China Inbound tourism
• The Chairman of Kunming Tourism Board talks about the growth in special interest tourism in Western China.
• Sportsworld is an official ticketing agent for the Beijing Olympic Games and official China agent for the Wimbledon tennis championships. Paul Lemon, General Manager of Sportsworld Beijing talks about their experiences of operating in this emerging market for sports tourism services.
To learn more visit http://www.future-of-travel.org
Until 12 October, the early bird delegate rate is only £288.00 (USD 568 / EUR 368) for full day event and £148.00 (USD 288 / EUR 188) for half day. Tickets include access to an exclusive online network and all forum presentations. From 12 October and during WTM, the rate is £330.00 (USD 648 /EUR 418) full day and £168.00 half day (USD 328 / EUR 218).

Contact details:

Media: info@ccontact.com +44 20 3239 9688
Sponsors: info@ccontact.com +44 20 3239 9688
Registration: info@future-of-travel.org +44 20 8783 9588

download the WTM-ChinaContact press release