We have prepared these top 8 tips for VisitBritain’s China Welcome Charter portal, and I thought I would share them as they apply to all destinations.

http://www.visitbritain.org/greatchinawelcome/chinaready/

Here are our 8 Top Tips to help you get your business China Ready. Why 8 tips? Because No. 8 is regarded as the luckiest number in Chinese culture. ‘Eight’ is pronounced ‘Ba’ in Chinese which sounds similar to the word ‘Fa’ which means to make a fortune. No. 8 is favoured by businessmen as it represents prosperity, success and high social status. In some areas of China people pay large sums of money for a telephone number with an 8 in it, and homes on the eighth floor of a building would be the most sought after!

1. Learn to see beyond the clichés about Chinese tourists

For example, don’t assume that the Chinese only want to eat Chinese food. Experiencing local cuisine is important to them, so a week’s program should include at least a couple of non-Chinese meals. Also be aware of the growing number of Chinese travelling in small, self-organised groups whose travel patterns are quite different to large groups.

2. Think about long-term engagement and commitment

Chinese prefer to do business with friends – so work to build that friendship and trust above simply pushing business through. Invite them to visit you and host them well. Send them Chinese New Year greetings cards and bring them small gifts when you meet.

3. China is not a single market. Understand the regional and demographic identifiers

You would not have the same sales strategy and marketing campaign for all European countries. China is the same. Taking the time to learn about demographic differences across regions will pay big dividends.

4. Maintain an active presence on China’s internet

If you are not physically in China, your web presence needs to be. Chinese are much more active on social media and spend more time online compared to Western people. Being active means engaging with them there, through a well localized website, local hosting, social media profiles on Weibo/Wechat and video content on Youku.

5. Localisation is important and should be delivered appropriately

Localisation is much more than simply accurate translation. Under no circumstance should you use machine translation for your website. Having no Chinese at all is preferable to using an automated google translate button, no matter how attractive the proposition is. Payment solutions can also be localized, as can social media links and customer service.

6. Emphasise the brand heritage, its history and the human interest story in your marketing

If your destination is known in China for culture, history, art, nature or other accomplishments, bring out these elements whenever you are describing your own product or service, but try to relate them specifically to Chinese culture and influences (Classical China, Confucianism, modern history) wherever you can.

7. Keep up to date on developments – China changes quickly

There are lots of sources of information you can register for which will provide you with regular news and updates on what is happening in the market.

(our monthly and weekly newsletters are a free resource)

8. Show respect for Chinese culture

The dynamics in China now allow Chinese travel agents to expect competitive prices, flexible payment terms and agreement to last minute changes. The pressure from their own clients to satisfy every whim is very high. When you understand their pressures, you can anticipate some of the possible conflict areas and plan for them.

For more advice and insights, visit www.visitbritain.org/greatchinawelcome

Learn more about the Chinese market at a special seminar organised by London & Partners in the morning of Tuesday 1 July.

Speakers will include the President of the China Tourism Academy – the Chinese Government’s ‘tourism thinktank’ – who is visiting the UK for just two days, together with experts in training, quality accreditation, marketing and distribution for the Chinese market. Roy Graff, Managing Director of ChinaContact has been invited to give a speech during the seminar.

The event – which is being held at the London Marriott Hotel Maida Vale and sponsored by Geocast TV - will also include an update on the GREAT China Welcome programme.

Attendance is free but places are limited. Confirm your place at events@londonandpartners.com by 25 June.

Roy Graff, MD of ChinaContact, attended the event and gave advice on how to successfully enter the fast-growing Chinese market. He shared relevant tips and advice with the audience to help them better understand, welcome and serve Chinese tourists in a nutshell ” be China-ready”.

Click here to see Roy Graff’s presentation at the GREAT China Welcome Summit

In addition, in this short video, some of the 250 speakers and delegates who attended the event give their insights and share their experiences with the Chinese market.

Find out more about the event, the speakers and the presentations that were given on VisitBritain website.

Click HERE to learn more about the GREAT China Welcome Charter.

And HERE to access the online guide developed by ChinaContact.

By Nick Rhines

VisitBritain is introducing a major new programme aimed at increasing the number of high spending Chinese visitors that are already estimated to bring up to £1.2 billion annually to the UK economy.

VisitBritain has created a comprehensive modular visitor preparation and marketing scheme, The GREAT China Welcome Chartermark. It allows hotels, restaurants, visitor attractions and other tourist facing companies access to a comprehensive suite of services that will enable them to target and fully prepare to serve what is the largest high spending consumer group the World has ever known.

Under the scheme, the leading specialist Chinese advisors and agencies are taking part in supporting the industry in the preparation for, and targeting of Chinese tourists. This includes cultural training for non-Mandarin speaking staff, Mandarin web and digital marketing specifically tailored to attract the Chinese audience, translation services and point of sale advice. These include ChinaContact, Qumin, China Edge and COTRI.

Qualification for the Charter is based passing one criteria that demonstrates evidence, or future plans to introduce an initiative to welcome Chinese tourists.

The Charter website includes a practical web based self-assessment service that identifies key tasks that need to be addressed based on specific need. An online form is completed and the resulting assessment can be used to identify weaknesses in marketing to and serving Chinese tourists, and which advisors within the Chartermark consultancy network should be utilised. The assessment tool will also be valuable to gauge progress following a company’s investment in the Chinese market.

The assessment service was designed and built by China market entry specialists ChinaContact and Anglo Chinese digital marketing company Qumin.

ChinaContact believes that part of the problem of attracting and maintaining a large volume of high spending Chinese customers is that business managers are unsure of where to start and who to turn to for assistance. The Chartermark scheme overcomes that problem.

‘Managers in the hospitality sector know where to begin when trying to generate business from nearly every consumer group, but with the Chinese tourist market there is not the required knowledge to choose a web design or social media agency, or to run a Chinese focused customer service programme’, says ChinaContact managing director, Roy Graff.

‘What VisitBritain has done is not only bring the best Chinese market advisors and service companies together under one banner, it has created a platform and resource centre that can be accessed with high levels of assurance. What is more, the self-service assessment tool is thorough, and allows users to identify what they need to address to sell effectively to Chinese visitors, keep them as customers of the future, and create word of mouth sales.’

The success of The GREAT China Welcome Chartermark can already be judged by the more than 100 companies that signed up and qualified for the standard mark even before launch. They included British Airways, Edwardian Hotel Group, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason and Pullman London St Pancras, as well as many smaller hotels, visitor attractions and tour operators.

Ends

About ChinaContact:

ChinaContact is a China market entry specialist for the tourism, retail and luxury sectors working with destinations, operators, brands, hospitality providers, media and events. ChinaContact can advise on trade distribution and marketing in China through the travel trade and consumer travel media and can develop marketing campaigns. It offers representation services at China and Asia trade shows including COTTM, ILTM-Asia, ITB-Asia and more.

www.chinacontact.co.uk

About Qumin Limited:

Qumin is the only full service Anglo-Chinese Digital Marketing company. With offices in London and Shanghai, it provides a complete menu of  digital and e-commerce services for all Chinese speaking markets.

Qumin provides in-depth expertise in:

• Strategic planning
• Website and app creative and technical design and development
• Website registration in China
• Search engine optimisation (SEO)
• Social media marketing
• Pay per click advertising (PPC)
• Mandarin copywriting and translation
• Digital Brand Launch in China
• Complete e-commerce service, including payment gateway and order fulfilment

www.qumin.co.uk

Link to VisitBritain charter website: http://www.visitbritain.org/greatchinawelcome/

 The GREAT China Welcome Charter was launched yesterday, 26th of March.

Top tips from VisitBritain include:  

•          Emphasise heritage and human interest in your marketing
•          Respect the Chinese culture
•          Remember that China is bigger than Europe – don’t treat it as just one market
•          Be active on social media (Sina and Tencent Weibo collectively reach over half the Chinese population)

The Summit, which followed the unveiling of a new Charter earlier this month, provided UK hoteliers, destinations, attractions and tour operators with the opportunity to hear first-hand from some of the world’s leading experts about the scale and opportunities of the rapidly-growing Chinese outbound tourism market.

Experts at the Summit included Professor Dr Wolfgang Arlt, Director of the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute, who spoke about the global perspective of the Chinese market, and Roy Graff, Managing Director of ChinaContact, who shared essential knowledge for tourism operators on getting their businesses ‘China ready’.

Panellists from VisitBritain, China Holidays, UK Visas & Immigration and Union Pay International answered questions on the trends, challenges and opportunities that Chinese visitors to Britain present, while some of Britain’s best known tourism brands demonstrated China readiness in action with case studies and examples of best practice.

Sandie Dawe, CEO of VisitBritain, said:“Our goal is simple – to make Britain the most welcoming destination in Europe for the Chinese visitor. In order to do this we are providing the industry with guidance on what they need to become ‘China ready’.

“The GREAT China Welcome programme will underpin our work in China and move us towards our ambitious target of welcoming 650,000 Chinese visits a year by 2020 – worth nearly £1.1 billion annually to the UK economy.” 

Earlier this month the Chartermark was unveiled at Blenheim Palace by VisitBritain CEO Sandie Dawe, Cultural Minister Counsellor Mr Xiang Xiaowei, Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill and Keith Williams, Executive Chairman of British Airways – a founder member of the Charter.

 ~ENDS~