Find out more and register here

Chinese tourists spent more than US$7 billion overseas during this year’s Chinese New Year holiday. Spendy tourists from China are knocking on your door, to the tune of a billion dollars a year. Do you know how to serve them? Really?
Tourism from China to the United States is ramping up for a threefold increase. President Obama recently issued an executive order to accelerate visa approval for foreign citizens — especially arrivals from China — which is expected to add $850
billion to the US economy by 2020. With more than 50% of Chinese consumers’ luxury purchases being made abroad–
and some brands harnessing up to 30% of their home country revenue from Chinese tourists — engaging Chinese travelers wherever they travel has become an operational imperative for prestige brands. But just opening your door to Chinese tourists is not enough to build lasting customer relationships. Chinese customers have unique brand perceptions, travel habits,
purchase preferences and service expectations. Companies need to completely rethink their branding, marketing & selling strategies to serve this emerging customer.
China Luxury Network, Jing Daily and ChinaContact will jointly host two high velocity seminars on February 29, 2012 to explore new ways in which hospitality and luxury brands can improve performance with this dynamic new consumer group.
At the event, CLN will release findings from recent research on the aspirations and preferences of Chinese consumers. We will pinpoint industry best practices in catering to affluent Mainland Chinese tourists, and provide strategic and tactical
recommendations to convert fast-emerging luxury consumers to loyal customers.
All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of China Luxury Network’s upcoming report: Global Consequences of Chinese New Year, detailing high net worth consumer preferences and trends with actionable insights and tactical
recommendations for generating revenue and loyalty among China’s high net worth travelers.

Agenda:
Please note that there are two separate sessions. The morning session is focused on hospitality and related businesses and the afternoon on brands and retailers.

(Morning Session)
Beyond Slippers and Pu’Er Tea: Hospitality Excellence for High Net Worth Chinese

08:30 Registration and coffee
09:00 Opening Remarks
09:15 China travel and hospitality trends, Avery Booker, Jing Daily: Statistics and trends
09:45 Who is the high-end Chinese traveller? Sage Brennan, China Luxury Network: Demographic data, Key China-related markets, Spending patterns, Education and culture
10:45 Break
11:00 Service excellence for Chinese visitors/consumers Roy Graff, ChinaContact: Travel patterns and destinations, Group / Individual travel characteristic, Cultural mores and suggestions
12:00 Case studies and Q&A
12:30 Closing Remarks
12:35 Coffee and networking

(Afternoon session)
Finding and Impressing Your Customer: Luxury Brand and Retail service excellence

14:00 Opening Remarks
14:15 China Luxury Trends Avery Booker, Jing Daily
14:45 Who is the Chinese luxury customer and how to reach him/her? Sage Brennan, China Luxury Network: Where / who / how, Demographic data, Spending patterns, Purchase decisions, Shopping and consuming trends, Online trends and social networking
15:45 Break
16:00 Marketing your brand to Chinese tourists, Roy Graff, ChinaContact: Tourism and Retail brand marketing, PR, Digital marketing and social networking, Partnership strategies
17:00 Case studies and Q&A
17:30 Closing Remarks
17:35 Reception

Presenters include:
Avery Booker, Editor, Jing Daily.

As Jing Daily’s founding editor and vice-president for new media,
Avery Booker writes and translates a number of the site’s articles, primarily in the fields of branding,
media and the arts. He was previously editor of ChinaLuxCultureBiz, the blog that preceded Jing Daily.
Prior to receiving his M.A. at New York University in 2008, Booker worked and studied in China from
2004-2006, teaching American Literature at Xi’an Jiaotong University and editing a bilingual newspaper
in Beijing. He also contributes Jing Daily content to the Forbes China Tracker blog, C-Arts Magazine,
and the Luxury Society.

Sage Brennan, Co-Founder China Luxury Network

Sage first visited China in 1987, and has been studying and speaking the language and culture ever
since. He has worked in China as a researcher, investor, entrepreneur, journalist and advisor, with a
specialization in digital, mobile and strategy. Sage has advised companies on their China market entry
and digital strategy as a co-founder of HotPot Consulting, including leading development of L2 think
Tank′s research and advisory platform in China.
Sage is Co-Founder of China Luxury Network, a division of Affinity China that advises luxury brands on
reaching the emerging Chinese luxury consumer — both at home and as they travel around the world.
In Shanghai, Sage was the Chief representative of China operations for Hong Kong-based hedge fund
Pacific Sun Investment Management. He was the general manager of Shanghai-based Pacific Epoch, a
boutique telecom and technology research firm, later acquired by Pacific Crest Securities. Sage was also
a consultant for telecom, media and technology firm BDA, based in Beijing.
Sage contributed the weekly “Sage Brennan’s This Week in China” column to Dow Jones’ MarketWatch
for two years, and remains a frequent commentator on China-related media and technology issues in
print media and on programs such as CNBC’s Asia Squawk Box, Wall Street Journal and others.
Sage is a founder and curator of the Shanghai chapter of MobileMonday, with over 3,000 participants,
and founded the TEDxShanghai chapter. He is also a regular speaker on China at conferences such as
SouthXSouthwest, AdTech and other.

Roy Graff, Founder ChinaContact
Roy is an experienced China travel marketing and distribution executive involved in e-commerce, online
travel and hospitality. From 2009-2011 Roy was engaged by two of the top-ten travel companies, Expedia and Travel Leaders Group to plan, develop and market online hotel distribution technology platforms targeted at travel agencies and consumers. Since 2005, he combines consultation on China’s tourism sector with travel and hospitality technology projects in Europe, North America and Asia. He conceived and ran the flagship forum on China’s Travel Industry, ‘China the Future of Travel’ at WTM in London from 2006 to 2008. In 2005 (updated in 2008) Roy published the ‘China Outbound Travel Handbook’, a comprehensive primer on China’s outbound tourism sector. He is a founding member of the China Advisers Network (C.A.N), an association of leading China specialists and advisers from various fields in the UK. Returning to Europe after a long period of travel industry work in China, Roy continues to assist tourism companies, travel providers and tourism promotion bodies eager to discover the tremendous potential of China as both market and destination. Since 2002 until early 2005, Roy engaged in senior level business development and travel product distribution for the world’s leading independent provider of products and services to the travel trade, Gullivers Travel Associates (gta – now part of Kuoni). Roy served as China Director of e-Commerce for gta, overseeing all aspects of the company’s electronic product distribution in China. In September 2004, Roy planned and executed a high-level three-day conference on modern tourism trends titled ‘The Future of Travel is Here’, co-hosted by Beijing Municipal Tourism Board. It was attended by provincial and city tourism board chair persons from China, senior level representatives from UNESCO, WTTC, Visa, AIG and other leading international companies totalling over 100 participants. Roy holds a bachelor’s degree in Chinese and Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and speaks business level Mandarin Chinese fluently.

Renee Hartmann, Co-Founder China Luxury Network

Renee has been working and living in China since 2000, with a specialty in understanding and selling to
the emerging Chinese consumer. She has worked as a brand owner, retail operator, consumer
researcher, public relations specialist and market entry strategist in China.
She is Co-Founder of China Luxury Network, a division of Affinity China that advises luxury brands on
reaching the emerging Chinese luxury consumer — both at home and as they travel around the world.
Renee has advised companies such as Under Armour, Horizon Hobby, Advanstar and Symphony IRI on
their China market entry strategy. She co-founded and later sold Shanghai based China consumer
insights agency, Enovate, which advises multinational clients such as New Balance, Kraft, Unilever and
Coca-Cola in targeting China’s emerging consumers. Renee was co-founder of Shanghai-based apparel brand, Eno, and served as its COO and CFO for more
than five years. During this time, Eno opened ten self-run retail locations in China and fifteen franchise
and partner operated stores. Eno also ran its own e-commerce platform, as well as sold online through
Taobao and other partner sites. Renee led the company’s fundraising efforts, which resulted in raising
more than US$8 million from venture capital and angel investors. She oversaw Eno’s groundbreaking
marketing practice, resulting in the company’s recognition as one of the Top Ten Most Innovative
companies in China by Fast Company in 2010.

For more information on the organizers, visit:
www.jingdaily.com
www.chinaluxurynetwork.com
www.chinacontact.org

For sponsorship information, please contact Renee Hartmann at
renee@chinaluxurynetwork.com.

Symposium
High Net Worth Chinese:
Driving Customer Acquisition and Loyalty
February 29, 2012
New York City

Find out more and register here

Chinese travellers will continue to become an increasingly important component of the travel industry mix (e.g. China is already Australia’s largest source market in terms of economic value). Hospitality suppliers will need to continue to adapt their distribution, marketing and operational strategies to meet the needs of these consumers who are increasingly focused on more individual, high-quality experiences.

Adrian Currie, Group Management Board Member, Priceline.com

To read what the industry leaders are saying will be the top trends in 2012, visit the Travel Distribution Summit Asia (9-10 May, Singapore) website for the full article.

ChinaContact readers will get an exclusive discount when quoting discount code ‘leyoba‘ when they register online.

Delegates from China qualify for a special introductory rate when the quote discount code ‘China‘ on their registration form.

The objective of the Forum is to disseminate information to a wide cross sector audience who are interested in Chinese cultural and creative industries. These include both public and private sector stakeholders and organisations that have interest in cultural trade relationships between the two countries.

Space is limited to 20 people, this will be an informal discussion with questions and active discussion encouraged.

More information about the speakers and venue is provided on the event webpage.

Click here to register your attendance

In China, this is obviously directly linked to their experience in 2008 when both of these factors contributed to a drop in tourism over all into the country. Visas were heavily restricted due to security concerns, and hotels put up their prices sky high.

It it too much to hope that the UK government is paying attention and will come out with a charm offensive to assure would be travellers that hotels and airlines will be reasonable with their pricing and applying for a visa would not be any more difficult than the (admittedly already pretty tough) current visa process? Is there any cash left in the coffers to spend on a charm offensive?

Click here for the full article at source

In New York, my friends at Affinity China have laid out a week long events program around luxury shopping and experience for the Chinese consumer. In a few weeks’ time, I will collaborate with them on a full day workshop to communicate the needs and aspirations of the Chinese luxury traveller and show how to market to them and serve them. Details on this event will be forthcoming soon.

Before we open the new year, how did 2011 pan out? According to statistics from the China Tourism Academy, 70 million Chinese travelled abroad and spent $69 billion. That’s 22% and 25% year on year growth. Outbound travel is projected to grow a further 12% in 2012 to over 78 million. 

When we look at specific destinations affected by Chinese tourism, the picture is even more striking. Some of the stories illustrating this in 2011 included:

• Maldives saw tourism from China become the number one source market. However recent political pressure resulted in the closing down of all spa services on this tropical paradise which is bound to affect the Chinese tourist market.
• Canada is pushing hard to promote winter tourism in China while many Australian states are actively promoting their destinations in the top Chinese source cities.
• The US has increased the visa quota for Chinese and added additional visa processing officers in China to cope with the demand.
• Chinese tourism to South Africa increased 18% in 2011 and has become an important source market.
• Switzerland is showing robust and strong growth performance from Chinese visitors in 2011.

So despite all of us expecting a general slow down in 2012, outbound tourism from China continues to show remarkable stability. The apetite for international experience is strong and so far, I believe, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. There is now an urgent need for hospitality providers and incoming operators to prepare their China market strategy and have someone on hand to deal with inquiries and make sales in China. Building a reputable brand among China’s travel agencies is quite important, just as building a strong quality brand for a destination is important in the Chinese consumer market.

For details of how to contact and pricing, please see the attached PDF. As a ChinaContact reader you will receive a special offer: one free editorial feature in the COTTM Show Daily along with your paid advertising or article. To enjoy the offer, please quote ‘COTTM Special’ and ‘ChinaContact’ as your referral.

For inquiries, contact Ms. Zhang by email.

click to download the COTTM Media Kit

They interviewed Carey Fletcher from China Holidays who rightly explained that restrictions on entry visas and limited capacity on flights is limiting the growth. The story also covers the need to check what Chinese like to spend money on and how they like to travel, and adjust your travel product accordingly before you start marketing your services in China. This was explained in my recent holiday post.

See the full video here, and feel free to submit your questions or comments about it in the comments section.

If you would like to stay updated on Chinese tourism news and related events in the UK, click here to join our mailing list. 

Happy New Year,

Roy

I won’t go into a reflective mood here – this is meant to be a happy time of year with loads of holidays (and great parties if you are not a follower of any religion) so I hope you use it well to get closer to your loved ones and remember what really matters in your life.

The ongoing process of recognising that much in our Western Capitalist system is ill and needs mending does help focus the mind on priorities and reasons for doing what we do. For me, working in travel distribution and marketing is really about connections – my connection with great people all over the world, and the easier connection we can help facilitate for people who want to travel and explore different cultures, experience how others live and expand their horizons.

Dragon Head by Ai Weiwei

The search for connection is probably best exemplified in the quick and unprecedented expansion of the Asian tourism market over the past few years, led by China the Dragon. With 2012 being the year of the Dragon, we should expect this giant flying lizard motif to be displayed everywhere we look (So I am starting this trend now). With it comes another double digit growth of China’s outbound tourism and a new waive of younger (and older) Chinese travelers who are no longer content to sit in coaches for 12 hours snapping famous sites from behind a tinted window. The confidence that comes with experience and growing disposable income is now translating into demand for more diverse and culturally insightful travel experiences. Access to information, thanks to the investment in excellent internet infrastructure in China, allows Chinese to research and plan independently of travel agents or guide books. They now take to travel forums to hear about other tourists’ experiences, monitor destinations and brands on social media and add their own views and opinions online. They look for travel partners online and group  together to negotiate discounts on travel accessories, flights and packages.

To understand how China’s growing clout is dramatically affecting the tourism sector, we need to observe the changes that South East Asia has been going through over the last 5 years or so. China is now the top market for most SE Asian countries and the top spenders in most of the Asian countries (all the way to Australia and New Zealand too!). Products and services no longer need to be exclusively tailored to Americans or Europeans – they are now being customised to Chinese tastes and preferences. And Asia’s experience will be replicated in North America in Europe in the near future (provided we don’t shut the gates but actually invite visitors to spend their money here with easier visas and better, targeted marketing and promotion).

So, as I count over 6 years since ChinaContact launched to communicate the opportunity that the Chinese tourist market represents, I hope that you will take this contemplation period to think what is your strategy and action plan to be relevant for Chinese visitors. Contrary to what you may think, that is not the exclusive domain of multinationals or large wealthy countries with millions to spend on promotion. The internet levels the playing field to a great extent (bearing in mind the internet sites popular in China are indeed different to the sites we flock to in the West) and you can take advantage of that.

So to help you along this process of seeing with your own eyes how China is changing the global tourism industry (starting in Asia) and may indeed be the saving grace of us all, I am passing along a holiday gift worth over $400 US dollars.

It is a 20% discount (worth over $400) for the Travel Distribution Summit Asia, taking place in Singapore in May. With major companies from Asia and international speakers including from China, this is an excellent education and networking opportunity. The Summit this year will include dedicated discussions and workshops on China aimed at all levels of familiarisation with the market. So it is a great entry point but also a good step on the way to implementing your China and Asia strategy. I am planning to hold a market entry workshop focused on how to utilize online marketing and social media to build brand and grow revenues in China.

How to benefit from this fantastic discount? Here are the details, and if you book before 20 January, there are also early bird rates!

• To register at the discounted rate and save 20% of the rate, please click on this link and quote the discount code ‘Leyoba‘ when prompted.
• If you are living in China, there is a special reduced China delegate rate, which you can access by quoting ‘China‘ when prompted.

So hope to see you in Singapore, or maybe see you in China or perhaps in London. In any case have a great holiday season and happy New Year and happy Chinese year of the Dragon too!

Best wishes

Roy