The loner breaks suitable for long-haul travel:

• Chinese New year: 31 January-6 February
• National Day: 1-7 October

Affinity China sat with Roy Graff, Managing Director of ChinaContact, to ask for his views on why the UK is not a top destination for Chinese and what can be done to make it one.

Roy has lived and worked in China and has been involved in the outbound tourism sector since 2002 having begun to learn Chinese in 1998. He founded ChinaContact in 2005 to help destinations and companies that want to attract Chinese tourists.

Q: The United Kingdom signed the Approved Destination Status (ADS) agreement with China in the summer of 2005. It has been an approved destination for nearly 8 years. Why are tourist numbers not growing as fast as to other countries?

A: In November of 2005, soon after the ADS agreement was signed, I helped UKinbound organise the first British delegation to exhibit in China, at CITM (China International Travel Market) in Kunming. Why was it UKinbound that led this delegation? Because the official government organisation responsible for marketing the UK abroad – VisitBritain – didn’t have the budget. Since then, VisitBritain has gotten serious about China but has repeatedly seen its budget being cut by both Labour and Conservative governments. Recent announcements of more investment (which is directed not only towards tourism promotion) not withstanding, overall marketing budget for VisitBritain is not sufficient to compete with what other countries are spending in China. Visibility and activities of other ‘direct competitor’ destinations, namely Australia, New Zealand, USA and France is much higher in China.

Even with effective promotion, the UK faces a few major challenges if it wants to attract mass tourism from China:

• The visa cost and cumbersome process of applying
• Being an island nation makes multi-destination tours more complex
• Cost of living is prohibitive for long-stay tourism

• Little knowledge and appeal of attractions beyond London

 Q: In 2005 the media began the hype about how the millions of new Chinese tourists will lift the UK hospitality and retail economy. This is clearly not happening. Are Chinese tourists really the saviours of the high street?

A: The retail industry in London is very happy with Chinese consumers; we just need more of them. Britain was late to this game since the EU signed the ADS agreement two years earlier. At that time, the vast majority of Chinese tourists came in large groups and travelled by coach across Europe to visit as many landmarks as they could. But in the last 5 years, what became very clear is that Chinese outspend most other nationalities when they travel, and the rate of growth overall has surpassed 15% every year. In 2005, UN WTO (World Tourism Organisation) predicted that Chinese outbound tourists will number 100 million by 2020. It has since revised that date to 2015 and recently the President of China said he believed 200 million Chinese will travel abroad by 2020!

For the UK, I’ve long argued that the focus should be squarely on high net worth individuals and small groups of discerning tourists. It would be better to have 400,000 Chinese who spend £3000 on their visit than a million who spend £1000. In 2005, the idea that Chinese would outspend Americans, Japanese and even Middle Eastern tourists seemed ridiculous but this is fast becoming the reality.

Q: Walk us through what it’s currently like to be a Chinese traveler interested in visiting London for the first time. How does this compare to other options they have in Europe?

A:  To illustrate this, we can look at the typical statement from the Home Office (responsible for immigration issues) when asked why it is so difficult for Chinese to get a visa to UK (the same applies to Indian, Brazilians, Russians…).

The UK’s government website statement says:

“The number of visas issued to Chinese nationals has risen rapidly in recent years. Immigration statistics released this month show that in 2012 we issued 75% more visas than in 2009 underscoring the UK’s increasing popularity as a destination for tourism, business and study.”

– 2009 was a slump year in global tourism, with numbers from China drastically below 2006 levels. In real terms, Chinese visits to the UK stayed about the same from 2006 until this day.

“96% of Chinese nationals who applied for a visa last year got one highlighting how straight forward the visa process is for the vast majority of applicants. The success rate for students is even higher at 98%.”

– The US now issues tourist visas in 3 working days. The 96% process rate does not say how many are approved in 5 days (about half) and how many people give up on the process and simply don’t apply, or get their visas rejected at the private visa processing centre because of the complicated forms, the need for additional documents and the requirement for personal interviews and biometric data. According to tour operators, this is as much as 30% of all applications.

“The new visa services and resources are in addition to other recent enhancements for customers which include:

• an optional priority visa service for business visitors and tourists which returns visa decisions within 5 working days
• a simplified ADS process, including shortened on-line application form and streamlined requirements
• launch of two new step-by-step Chinese language visa guides for Business Visitors and ADS agents and their customers
• the establishment of a Business Network in China with dedicated UK Border Agency staff to assist businesses with their visa requirements”

–       Most of these are cosmetic changes that make little difference because the underlying assumption of the Home office is that all Chinese who apply for visa are guilty of wanting to illegally immigrate until proven innocent.

–       If you are a self made business owner in a second tier city thinking of going for holiday in the UK, taking time off to fly to another city in order to give your fingerprints, and not even having a guarantee you will get the visa, is a major hassle. Imagine if you had to do that as a British citizen wanting to go to China? By contrast, visiting Europe is both cheaper and a smoother process. There is a choice of consulates you can go to and the form is the same in all, and much shorter. You also have the entire EU region available to you to travel freely in.

–       The new changes introduced by the UK government to take biometric data on-site and allow people to hold on to their passport are good, but won’t scale sufficiently.

Q: How much does the average Chinese traveler spend in London when they do visit? What are they spending their money on? Is it only shopping as much of the media reports? How does this compare with the spend level of other visitors to London?

A: Average spend per person per trip according to VisitBritain is £1600. This is higher than most nationalities but isn’t the whole picture. Coach tour tourists are only in London 2-3 days and spend much less while independent travellers and business people are in London for longer and spend 2 or 3 times that just on shopping. 60% and more of their spend is on shopping but we know independent travellers in particular also want to try cultural activities such as afternoon tea, fine dining, watching horse racing.

Q: Despite the “hassle” of visiting London, it remains a popular place in the minds of many Chinese. What is the appeal of London to Chinese travelers?

A: I think you have similar appeal in New York City, Paris, Hong Kong, and Singapore – globally famous cosmopolitan cities that have a unique, distinct set of characteristics. Many of China’s cities have developed to resemble each other so this uniqueness is a draw. London has a long established Chinese diaspora community and a thriving China town. It is an education and business centre and had historical ties to China.

Despite London having higher prices than Europe for shopping, the sales offer great value and the selection is world class. Prices are still much cheaper than China. Chinese love value, so getting 12-15% off for VAT refund at the airport is great.

Q: There is a growing number of Chinese FITs now. What is the difference between the FIT traveler to London and the group traveler? Is there a difference in where they stay, what they’re looking for from the experience?

A: Yes, there are quite a few differences. FIT stay longer and choose better hotels in central locations. They try local activities and food more than group tours that usually end up eating mostly in Chinese restaurants. This is less a cultural necessity and more determined by tour operators’ cost control.

Q: What advice do you have for luxury hotels in London? What are they doing right? What can they improve on?

A: Hotels in London should make the most of their location and walking access to retail, food and entertainment areas. Preparing Chinese language information at the hotel, stocking good local Chinese language shopping and activities guides and being able to address concerns of customers in Chinese are all important. The major luxury hotel chains have done much to offer amenities to Chinese guests and train their staff on Chinese cultural awareness. Oftentimes this applies only to those properties that receive a large number of Chinese groups and delegations. I think it is important that also those hotels that get less frequent FIT leisure and business clients as well as smaller chains and independent hotels focus on this as it will encourage positive word of mouth promotion, a very powerful marketing tool in China.

The other thing that helps is to not only offer free wifi throughout the hotel but encourage clients (and casual visitors) to check-on and post recommendations on Chinese social media sites such as Jiepeng, Weibo and Weixin.

Q: What advice do you have for luxury retailers in London? What are they doing right? What can they improve on?

A: A major frustration for Chinese shoppers in the UK entails finding the right size (shoes/ clothing). Meanwhile, people complain that they often have to compete with other fellow Chinese shoppers in busy shopping districts. Nothing is more disappointing than going into an underprepared store and coming out empty handed. Off-the-beaten shopping alternatives would be much appreciated for the independent Chinese visitors.

Chinese luxury shoppers are extremely keen on showing off their purchases using social media. However they are careful not to disclose the actual spend of their purchases. They might however hint that ‘’several credit cards have been maxed out during the shopping trip”. The large department stores such as Harrods and Selfridges as well as purpose build shopping areas like Westfield have invested in research and staff training, hired Chinese speaking staff and started to offer Chinese language in-store information.

Retail outlets that want to make sure they are on the Chinese shoppers’ map would be advised to invest in cultural awareness and service training, offer Chinese language guides and have signs in Chinese showing that they accept the China Union Pay payment card. Learning to distinguish the different types of Chinese shoppers and knowing where they are from (North China, South China, HKG, Taiwan etc.) to better serve them would be great.

Remember that Chinese customers are instinctively suspicious of sales people, so aggressive or overly friendly sales approach may back-fire.

 Q: What should the UK as a whole be doing to win more Chinese visitors and reach the target announced last year by the Culture secretary, of trebling Chinese visitors by 2015?

A: The recent announcement for visa simplification and having the forms in Chinese is a good start and should be implemented as quickly as possible. Communicating the changes effectively to the travel trade and the public in China is equally important. As suggested by other retail associations and tourism bodies, repeat, multiple entry visas should be pro-actively offered to those who visited before and to those that had multiple entry visas to the US or Europe in the past. Perhaps the biometric data could be collected on arrival in the UK (as is the process in US) for low-risk applicants. We should certainly encourage more high-end tourists and long-stay leisure/business visitors so independent visitor visas are highly recommended.

Q: Tell us more about what you are doing to help London in attracting more Chinese travelers and improving the experience of those that are already visiting.

A: In 2005, I helped UKinbound take the first delegation to exhibit at CITM. A year later, we worked with VisitLondon (now London and Partners) to exhibit at BITE and to win the CTW award (Chinese Tourists Welcoming award).

Our clients use our expertise to help with training and cultural awareness while we help create strategies for travel trade promotions and social media campaigns in China.

We work closely with the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) to certify hotels, shops and attractions as ‘China ready’. This involves training and auditing to ensure they have the right Chinese language information, appropriate customer service and know how to serve and up-sell to Chinese customers.

We have produced a number of forums and conferences to help educate the hospitality and retail sectors on the value and importance of this market, such as the WTM China forum (China – the Future of Travel) and the China Edge conference on luxury Chinese tourism and retail, which will take place July 3^rd of this year.

MEDIA RELEASE
IT&CM China 2009 / 02

Gain insight on China and its impact on the global MICE industry

Keynote address, seminar sessions and new trade seminars provide added incentive for delegates at IT&CM China 2009

Singapore, 2 April 2009 – Dr George Zhibin Gu, Commentator/Columnist and Author of China’s Global Reach and China and the New World Order, will deliver the keynote address – ‘How China’s Global Reach is Altering the World Map’ at IT&CM China 2009. He will offer an insightful, open-minded, and significant overview of a changing world in relation to a fast-developing China. From foreign multinationals’ effect to the emergence of domestic markets, he will chart the economic and political development in and out of China and what it means for the world’s future.

Dr Gu commented, “In the past 30 years, China has travelled light years to become an increasingly dynamic and open nation. What is really behind all the changes? To me: entrepreneurship, open society, and global involvement are the three main forces, and these forces will be extremely relevant to help the world move beyond the global financial crisis.”

Dr Gu was educated at Nanjing University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Michigan. He holds two MS and a PhD from the University of Michigan. For the last 15 years, he has been deeply involved in the investment world with a focus on China. His work focuses on helping international businesses to invest in China and the Chinese companies to expand overseas.

Apart from the keynote address and the IT&CM China Seminars, new Trade China Seminars will be added to IT&CM China 2009 to help participants gain insight into the next emerging MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, Exhibitions) powerhouse – China. Two seminars will be held daily from 16 to 17 April and will be chaired by China-based experts in the field. They will provide a better understanding on the inner workings of the MICE industry, to equip participants to face the challenges of this competitive business environment.

These experts will share trade secrets, from designing and tailoring your travel incentive programmes to improve overall performance of employees, employing the right social networking tools to ensure you get ahead in your business, to finding the right business partners and leveraging on their strengths to achieve better outcomes for your meetings, programmes and events.

• Trade Seminar 1: Creating a Business Case for a Travel Incentive Programme – A Blueprint for Success

Well-designed travel incentive programmes can achieve desired results, be it to engage workers, to enhance productivity, or to improve performance. Thomas Zheng Daqi, Managing Director and Principal Consultant of Beijing Talent Power Consulting Co Ltd, will offer a blueprint for selling an incentive travel programme to a new client or senior management.

• Trade Seminar 2: Social Networking – Should You be Using This?

Discover the power of networking with Roy Graff, Managing Director and Founder of China Contact, and take away secrets and strategies to get ahead in your life and business. Graff will also speak at IT&CM China Seminar 1A on China’s successful bid of the World Expo 2010.

• Trade Seminar 3: Partnering with Hotels for Successful Meetings

Frankie Gao, Managing Director of MCI – Shanghai, will take you through the ins and outs of choosing and working with a hotel, including site inspections and strategic negotiations.

• Trade Seminar 4: Partnering with Cruise Liners for Successful Events

Ella Bee, Marketing Director, Costa Crociere Pacific Asia Operation, will enlighten participants how to make better choices when working with cruise liners, from understanding the different products and itineraries, to negotiating strategies and developing relationships with cruise liners.

More industry experts and professionals will also share insights and knowledge at the IT&CM China Seminars on 16 and 17 April:

• Nigel Collin, Speaker, Author & Facilitator on Business Creativity at Seminar 1B, on ‘When the Going Gets Tough, Creativity Counts’.

• Shlomi Ashkenazi, Director of Purchasing, Kenes International at Seminar 2A, on ‘Measuring Success for Your Meetings and Events’.

• Albert Ng, CEO & Co-Founder of Wild China at Seminar 2B, on ‘New Trend: Towards Responsible Incentives’.

Sylvia Phua, Chief Executive Officer of MP International, said, “China is definitely a growing force to be reckoned with. We have seen more Chinese participation since the inaugural IT&CM China in 2007. For 2009, we have new Chinese state pavilions, more local buyers participation, and the added Trade China Seminars, which will shed more light on this rising MICE powerhouse.“

Apart from the seminar sessions, attendees at this year’s show can expect a sell-out exhibition which will span some 6,200 square metres. It has attracted the participation of more than 199 exhibiting companies and organisations from 20 countries. A host of exciting social and networking events will also be held throughout the three-day event.

Darren Ng, Managing Director of TTG Asia Media, commented, “We believe that the strong Chinese support coupled with continued participation from international exhibitors and buyers, IT&CM China 2009 will be the tradeshow to watch this year. The vibrant mix of East and West will generate attractive business opportunities for all.”

IT&CM China 2009 will be held at the ShanghaiMart Expo from 15 to 17 April 2009, and is expected to draw more than 2,000 local and international MICE professionals. The show is organised by TTG Asia Media and MP International. It is supported by STTA (Shanghai Tourism Trade Association), SCEIA (Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Industries Association), IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organisers), PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association), ICCA (International Congress & Convention Association), SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Executives) – Hong Kong Chapter. Visit www.itcmchina.com for more information.

ORGANISERS

About TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd

TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd is the region’s leading travel and tourism business information and access provider. With extensive industry involvement through a wide range of media products including publications, exhibitions, database management and the Internet, the company provides our partners with integrated marketing solutions and effective platforms to showcase their products and services to the industry.

TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd is also a leading organiser and event manager of travel trade shows in Asia, including IT&CMA (Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia), CTW (Corporate Travel World) Asia-Pacific, ITS (International Travel Show) Thailand 2004 and 2005, Thailand Travel Mart (TTM) Plus 2005 and ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 1998, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2010. It also publishes five titles targeted at distinct sectors of the travel trade: TTG Asia, TTG China, TTG India, TTGmice and TTG-BTmice China. These trade shows and publications provide the best marketing access to Asia-Pacific’s travel marketplace, influencers and deciders.

TTG Asia media is a member company of China.com Inc. which views Internet services as its core business and operates principally in China. It is listed on the Growth Market Enterprise (GEM) of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (Stock Code: 8006). For more information on TTG Asia Media, visit www.ttgasiamedia.com

MEDIA CONTACT

TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd
Hanli Tan (Ms)
Assistant Marcoms Manager

1 Science Park Road, #04-07, The Capricorn

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