The competition invites entrants to submit short videos of their favorite spot in Paris or London, to be in with the chance of winning a luxury Eurostar trip for two people. The launch of the social media campaign comes in response to the recent changes in visa regulations for Chinese visitors to Europe – The national tourism boards estimate that France will attract more than 1 million Chinese travellers in the coming year, whilst the UK will welcome over 250,000 Chinese visitors.

The competition will be live from today until the 3^rd October. Those taking part simply need to upload their 10-second video and tag it on Weibo with a campaign slogan. Ten finalists will be chosen and asked to submit a script for one-minute version of their film, which they will then shoot with the help of a professional film team provided by Eurostar. These clips will be displayed on www.eurostar-stories.com

In November, two overall winners – voted for by Eurostar and Weibo users – will receive a trip for two to London or Paris.

Darren Williams, Head of Sales said:

“We are extremely excited about the continued interest in Eurostar from the Chinese consumer. With support from our agency ChinaContact and our partners in both Europe and China, this campaign will introduce the brand to a new generation of Chinese travellers. For Eurostar, we hope this will create future marketing opportunities on the Chinese market”.

The campaign is open to any registered Sina Weibo users. To enter, shoot a 10 second film with your phone that introduces your favorite spot and upload it on Weibo. Full campaign rules are available on www.eurostar-stories.com

China Edge surveyed the Chinese social media engagement of 102 hotels in London, including 87 five-star and 15 four-star properties. Out of this pool, only six of the properties had registered Sina Weibo accounts, and none had WeChat accounts.

These two social media platforms are China’s largest, with 500 million users and over 400 users, respectively. China’s explosion of social media—Weibo launched less than five years ago, and WeChat has been around just over three years—also comes at a time when more and more Chinese are travelling abroad. There were 97 million outbound China travellers in 2013, and this number is expected to reach 100 million in 2014.

Still, London hoteliers have been slow to engage. Of the six properties with Weibo accounts, two have yet to post any content. Additionally, three of the other hotels repost the same content from all three accounts as opposed to generating original posts. Only one hotel, the May Fair Hotel, posts regularly, and occasionally assesses their competitors’ marketing campaigns. The remaining properties are not active, and do not have obvious Chinese social media posting strategies. The London hotels on Weibo also currently have far fewer followers than most hotel accounts in China—even the most-followed accounts have only around one percent or less of the followers of popular hotels in Beijing or Shanghai.

While Weibo remains China’s most popular social media platform for now, WeChat has caught up quickly and has seen more growth and increasing popularity in the last year. The ability of businesses to sign up for official accounts on this platform has allowed them to connect with a target audience on what started out as a free messaging and private micro blogging service.

Major international hotel chains such as Marriott and Four Seasons have Weibo and WeChat accounts for both the chain and some individual properties in China, but no major hotel group has registered Chinese social media accounts for their individual hotels based in the UK.

The most influential social media marketing tools for Chinese audiences, Weibo and WeChat have yet to be utilised to their full potential by London hoteliers. As a market, London does attract fewer Chinese visitors than cities within Asia or even Western Europe. Still, Britain’s capital does attract a higher percentage of independent travellers that are highly responsive to social media engagement. Reaching them through Weibo and WeChat is a low-cost, fast and effective method that more hotels should be taking advantage of. As the Chinese outbound travel market continues to grow, engagement on social media will no doubt become an increasingly valuable tool and pressing need for hotel properties in London and other major destinations for Chinese travellers.

China Edge is a partnership of China specialist companies providing a holistic marketing solution to luxury retail and hospitality businesses aiming to attract high net worth Chinese clients. ChinaContact is the founding member, joined by China Business Service, Qumin Digital, and Orient Business Consulting.

Audience:
100 guests including representatives from luxury & premium brands, Chinese & UK Government, Chinese HNWIs & media
Format:
13.00 – 20.00

• Welcome Keynote by Chairman of Hurun Report
• Three panel discussions highlighting key service areas focusing on wealth management, property, luxury retail & education and ancillary services, showcasing best in sector
• Two keynote speeches
• Dinner

Roy Graff, MD of ChinaContact and Founding Director of China Edge will be a guest panelist speaking about China’s luxury tourism sector.

ChinaContact followers, clients and subscribers – click here to book and enjoy a £70 discount on the conference ticket by using discount code: CC10

Download London for HNWI Chopsticks Club Flyer

Furious London tourism bosses today demanded the immediate scrapping of all “colonial bureaucracy” putting off big-spending Chinese visitors after France unveiled a fast-track 48-hour visa processing system.

France has promised to implement 48-hour visa processing that will start this month and be available to Chinese.  The fast track visa system that Britain offers in China is due to start working this summer and will be available for a higher price, and through select travel agencies on a pilot basis. Business leaders in Britain feel that the changes in visa do not go far enough to attract Chinese visitors.

“The Mayor would urge the Government to consider all possible measures in order to ensure London is in the best possible position to continue to compete with our European rivals.”

There is an inherent contradiction between the priorities of the tourism industry and VisitBritain, and those of the Home office and the Immigration service. These contradictions do lead to suggestions that Britain is a difficult place to visit, when perceived by travel agents or consumers in China. When juxtaposed against the ability to visit many European countries on a single visa, Britain’s stance is difficult to justify. While further visa relaxation is needed, communicating what has already been done and showing the positive trend of easing access is just as important now.

Business Secretary Vince Cable made it clear he believed the Coalition needs to step up the pace of reform. He told the Standard: “Britain is lagging behind France and Germany in attracting Chinese visitors and they usually cite the visa regime as the problem. “There have been some recent improvements but we cannot allow ourselves to trail behind France in what some call the global race.”

Europe has many advantages to Chinese visitors compared to the UK – more famous landmarks, well known fashion and luxury brands, food that is made popular in China, easy cross-border crossings. Britain has its advantages too but in many instances, people’s perception of the visa challenges puts them off making the attempt to even apply.

During a visit to China in autumn, Chancellor George Osborne announced plans for a limited relaxation of the system, including a 24-hour “super-priority” visa service for business leaders, and a pilot scheme to allow Chinese tourists to apply for a UK visa using the Schengen form through “approved” tour operators.

It’s good to show that our policies are being relaxed and we are making efforts to be more inviting. From the Chinese perspective, this seems too slow and too little compared to other countries that either offer a total visa waiver to Chinese now, visa on arrival or expedited visa processing. Recent research from Skyscanner and Hotels.com points to visa application being a major consideration in the destination selection by Chinese travellers.

A Home Office spokewoman said 284,000 visas for Chinese visitors were processed last year, a 40 per cent rise, with an average processing time of seven days. She said: “We already offer a 3-5 day priority service and this year we are introducing a super-priority 24-hour service. We’ve listened to retailers, travel companies and customers.”

It seems that there is growing pressure from the business community and from within the government to improve the relationship with China and become more inviting to Chinese visitors. The changes already announced came about after intense lobbying, which can and should continue so that Britain can reach the level of visitors from China (and other emerging markets) that is truly deserves.