FAQ
How to promote U.S. Golf courses for Chinese golfers?
The most targeted media is certainly "Vip Golf USA", a digital media specialized about golfing in the United States for affluent Chinese golf players. This media has an audience of 21,000 Chinese golfers. According to a survey made with the readers, here is the profile of Chinese golfers in the U.S. (January 2012): Gender women:22% men: 78% Marital status single: 33% married : 67% Age group 20-30: 12% 31-40: 56% 41-50: 32% Occupation CEO / business owner: 61% senior executive: 24% other professionals: 15% Overall shopping budget during their golf trips abroad (usd) under $5000: 6% $5,000 to $7,000:11% $7000 to $10,000: 9% $10,000 to $20,000: 28% $20,000 to $50,000:24% $50,000 to $100,000:12% over $100,000:10% For those who have traveled to the US, cities already visited (multiple answers possible) New York City: 72% Las Vegas: 68% Los Angeles: 46% Chicago:31% Miami: 20% Seattle:18% Preferred Golf equipment brands (Multiple answers possible) Callaway: 82% Mizuno: 74% Nike Golf: 61% TaylorMade: 53% Ping: 34%
What is the opinion of affluent Chinese outbound tourists about traditional travel agencies?
For the new generation of affluent Chinese outbound tourists, traditional "brick & mortar" Chinese outbound travel agencies are considered to be old-fashioned structures, with a low level of expertise on international travel. Therefore, Chinese travelers spend a lot of time online to prepare and book their leisure trip abroad: 82% of affluent Chinese outbound tourists prepare their trip abroad using the Chinese web. 63% of Chinese outbound tourists “don’t trust their local Chinese outbound travel agency” and therefore trust word to mouth and referrals from other Chinese tourists. 67% of Chinese tourists are influenced by on-line comments from other Chinese travelers about a destination or a hotel abroad. This underlines the crucial importance of digital marketing on the Chinese web, in particular on influential Chinese travel blogs.
How can we target the wealthiest Chinese travelers?
The best option to reach the "Chinese super-rich" is to directly get in contact with them where they make their choice of destination for their next luxury holidays. The Shanghai Travelers' Club is the most prestigious luxury travel club in China: it's the place to meet and promote your services in front of very wealthy customers. The Shanghai Travelers' Club publishes a digital magazine, for members only, with articles about luxury hotels, yachting events, luxury retail stores in Paris, London, New York, and in every luxury destination. Prestigious five star luxury hotels (such as the Ritz, in Paris) already sponsor this magazine, as well as luxury retail stores (such as Piaget, in New York City).
How can direct marketing be used to promote travel services to Chinese tourists?
It's possible to send targeted newsletters to specific audience groups in China (e.g. Chinese who like golf, wine tours, shopping...). The difficulty is to obtain the qualified and verified databases. Most of the databases of "Chinese travelers" available in China are not very qualified, requiring that time and resources are spent to double check these databases to be sure your information is well sent to the right potential Chinese customers. At China Elite Focus, we use only databases that have been controlled and checked by our own systems to ensure a perfect direct marketing campaign. Keep in mind tha quality is everything, quantity means nothing in China! Sending a message to one million un-qualified Chinese customers will give no results, when sending the right message to one thousand highly qualified and interested customers will be a success.
What is the best strategy to attract Chinese tourists for a United States CVB?
The United States is the #1 dream destination for affluent Chinese outbound travelers, but they barely know where the different States are located, and what they have to offer. It's extremely important to explain what the major tourists activities in your state, county or city are, and to communicate on a limited number of tourist activities. Social Media campaigns work better than advertisements in printed magazines to promote CVB's to the Chinese market.
Is it difficult for an individual Chinese tourist to get a tourist visa for the United States?
It's much easier than it was five or ten years ago. The ADS (Approved Destination Status) makes things easier and quicker for Chinese tourist groups, but also for FIT (Free Independent Travelers). Read the explanation in this article about the new US Ambassador to China: http://chinesetourists.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/new-us-ambassador-to-china-may-improve-visa-process-for-chinese-tourists/
Our Tourism Bureau needs to recruit a Sales Manager for the Chinese market. What kind of experience profile should we look for?
Recruiting a good expert on the Chinese market is a difficult task! Read the excellent article by Pierre Gervois, an expert in destinations marketing to Chinese tourists: http://chinesetourists.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/the-art-of-hiring-a-chinese-market-sales-manager/
What are the best luxury lifestyle Chinese printed magazines to influence the choice of Chinese outbound travelers?
The most trusted Chinese luxury lifestyle printed magazines are: -Target -Noblesse -China Boating -Golf Wednesday -Baccarat These magazines are distributed to affluent Chinese consumers and have a travel section. They are perfect for already very well know luxury travel brands willing to do image campaigns on the Chinese market, but are not well adapted to launch a new brand (Social media marketing is a better choice).
I have heard that Chinese tourists could experience some administrative difficulties for travelling abroad. Is it true?
This was true 15 years ago, but now, due to the policy of the Chinese government, there is no restriction for the Chinese tourists for travelling abroad, and getting a passport is now very easy and subject to no restriction.
Our hotel has a Chinese person on our team, why not ask this person to translate our web site and other documents for our Chinese guests?
It may sound like a good idea, but it is not! At China Elite Focus, we know that a translation has to be made by professional translators who live in China, and understand the up-to-date appropriate level of language to use in a translation. Translation is a full time job, and China Elite Focus employs a team of highly educated and skilled translators, each specialized in one foreign language only (English/Chinese, French/Chinese, German/Chinese, etc…). Because your business is a professional business, you need to have a professional quality translation. Do not forget that a low quality translation made by a non-professional can ruin your image in the demanding high-quality Chinese market.