The Chinese outbound tourism market is undeniably lucrative for savvy properties wanting to expand. Here are some ways to get more bookings from this high volume and increasingly high spending market.

1. How To Attract Chinese Tourists
To Your Property

2. The Market: A Revolution, Not Evolution
How To Attract Chinese Tourists To Your Property?
The Chinese outbound travel in the recent years is often described
as a ‘revolution’, not ‘evolution’. According to the United Nations
World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Chinese tourists spent
$261 billion in other countries, while the number of outbound
Chinese travellers increased by six percent to 122 million in 2016.
This is happening with only four percent of Chinese population
owning a passport! So, just imagine the potential when this grows.

3. Go Digital To Capture This Growing Pie
How To Attract Chinese Tourists To Your Property?
1. Get an Appealing Website with Good Chinese Content
The Chinese are web savvy customers. Make sure you have a well-designed
website before you go into this market. In addition to looking good, the
website must also feature high-quality content – general information, offers
and inspiring photos and videos. Remember, social media links like
Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are blocked – no point in including them in
the website for your Chinese edition.
Other important factors to consider are high download speed (hosting locally
would help that immensely) and translation of content. These also add up
towards improving your rankings on Baidu – the China search engine.

4. Go Digital To Capture This Growing Pie
How To Attract Chinese Tourists To Your Property?
2. Become Search Smart – Understand the Workings of Baidu
80 percent of Chinese search happens on Baidu. Develop an SEO
strategy around the rules and algorithms of Baidu, as well as the
Chinese Government’s rules of censorship. You can advertise on
Baidu but the paperwork required can be cumbersome. As a small
property, finding a local marketing partner can be beneficial.

5. Go Digital To Capture This Growing Pie
How To Attract Chinese Tourists To Your Property?
3. Use Ctrip and Relevant Payment Gateways
Having your own website is great. But, for greater reach you need
to find bigger, local platforms. Ctrip is the largest online travel
agency in China and one you definitely should be listed on in order
to be seen. Other major players are Qunar and eLong. It is also
important to have a trusted and secure payment gateway to
encourage users to complete their booking.
Once listed, managing your rates and inventory on Ctrip is easily
done via the STAAH channel manager, which integrates with this
channel.

6. Go Digital To Capture This Growing Pie
How To Attract Chinese Tourists To Your Property?
4. Invest in Chinese Social Media Platforms
92% of Chinese online users are engaged in social media. China has double
the percentage of ‘active’ social media users than Europe or North America,
making it one of the most engaged countries online in the world. Joining the
social revolution here is a no brainer.
Weibo, a micro-blogging platform, and WeChat with more than 889 million
registered users at the end of 2016, are the big players in this area. Chinese
generally have a very positive attitude towards brands using these social
tools to communicate, unlike other countries around the world. So, if you’re
looking to attract and convert, make sure social is a big portion of your
marketing mix.

7. Go Digital To Capture This Growing Pie
How To Attract Chinese Tourists To Your Property?
5. Reviews and Word of Mouth Matters
Possibly because of cultural values emphasising respect among
friendship and family circles, Chinese people are particularly
influenced by others’ recommendations, experiences, and
opinions. Hence encouraging reviews and managing them
efficiently via tools like ReviewMinder are important.
The Chinese also have a strong celebrity or influencer culture.
Leverage this to your advantage where possible.

8. BLOG.STAAH.COM
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