Very brief presentation on the opportunity to capture the Chinese Tourist in the UAE with web and mobile

1. Capturing the Chinese Tourist in the UAE
Opportunities in Web and Mobile
@alextohme

2. • In 2009 Chinese travellers spent $4bn more
OVERSEAS than at home
• This is forecast to rise to over $7bn this year
• About 100 million Chinese are expected to
travel overseas by 2020
• The UAE has ambitions to double the number
of tourists by 2020

3. Number of Visitors
• UAE achieved ADS in 2009
• 2008 – 96,000 Chinese visitors to UAE
• 2009 – 150,000
• 2010 – 170,000
• 2011 – 195,000

4. Where do they stay?
• Most popular hotel destinations among
Chinese travellers are:
• Burj Al Arab
• Atlantis The Palm
• Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel
• The One and Only

5. Increased trade links
• Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce
Marketing has opened three offices in China in
Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou
• Emirates has more flights between China and
UAE
• The increasing number of Chinese visitors has
prompted the Louis Vuitton boutique at Mall
of the Emirates to recruit Chinese staff
• 70 per cent of its sales go to Chinese people

6. Importance of online
• The Internet has become the most important
medium for the country’s growing number of
tourists to plan vacations
• While most Chinese visit traditional travel
websites for research, they are likely to
finalize their itineraries on social networks
with other travellers

7. High recall for travel ads online
• Online advertising, however, is also having
more influence on Chinese travellers than
advertising in more traditional mediums like
television and print
• Almost 70 percent of those surveyed
remembered seeing travel ads on the Internet

8. Opportunities
• Less than 2 % of the total destination media
expenditure goes to Internet advertising
• Every day the C-trip online travel forum
receives 2 million page views, and the
destination exploration channels receive 1.1
million page views

9. Timescale and things to do
• Chinese tourists often have only five or six days at a
time for holidays which makes Dubai a very
attractive destination
• Shopping is very important
• They don’t mind travelling during summer months
• Luxury purchases abroad are a big part of consumer
spending
• Status associated with being able to travel overseas
and come back with suitcases full of luxury goods

10. Ideas moving forward for Hotels
• Mobile apps in Cantonese / Mandarin for
hotels to help Chinese tourist get around
easily – promote this during hotel marketing
strategy
• In room digital advertising tailored to the
Chinese tourist (screens, tv etc)
• Hotel room becomes the data hub for the
tourist

11. Ideas for retail
• Special mobile retail offers for Chinese tourists
as they browse mall language specific (pre
order from hotel?)
• Digital comms for luxury goods – good pilot
for Chinese tourists in branded shops (AR /
mobile etc)

12. Potential user journey
• Chinese tourist uses online forums to plan
trip, sees advertising for UAE hotel chain
• On arrival, in room advertising informs him of
special offers at nearby mall and prompts him
to download the app (in chinese language)
• When in mall, redemptions through app allow
extra data to be gathered on habits
• Back in hotel room, NFC allows all that data to
be transferred to hotel back end systems

13. More resources
• All the resources I collect can be found here:
• http://bagtheweb.com/b/AsGg0o
• Or, search for: “China Connect Middle East”
on www.bagtheweb.com

14. Thank you