Attracting Chinese tourists is no cakewalk: Richard Matuzevich
The Association of Tourism Trade Organisations, India (ATTOI), in association with Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, is all set to host the International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT) in Kochi to address the challenges related with technology faced by Indian tourism and hospitality industry. The third edition of ICTT will have a separate session on attracting Chinese tourists to Indian destinations, especially Kerala. Richard Matuzevich from China will speak on the topic ‘How to do social media tourism promotion to get Chinese tourists. Excerpts from an interview with Richard Matuzevich…
With the volume of outbound guests, Chinese tourists are a target for any hotel looking to boost occupancy. What are the main factors hotels must address when communicating to the Chinese market?
One of the most important factors I would say would be transparency and hospitable service. If we want to get more specific, having warm breakfast with some Chinese food items would make Chinese tourists feel more welcome and comfortable.
How good the Chinese travellers respond to digital marketing and social media?
Chinese travellers compared to their western counterparts respond much better to digital marketing and social media, especially if the source is trust worthy, for instance an KOL they have been following for some time. In China social media landscape is totally different, one can’t use traditional social media used in western countries like Facebook, Instagram or Youtube to attract Chinese tourists. Chinese Social media like Wechat, Weibo or Tik Tok is essential if you want to reach Chinese travellers.
How do you expect China’s outbound tourism market to develop over the next couple of months?
For Chinese travellers VISA policy, whether the country have VISA free regime with China or it is relatively easy to obtain VISA, good flight connections and safety are the main factors that influence Chinese tourists when they choose their travel destination. Outbound tourism growth will be steady and rising, passing 150 million outbound trips. Most visited destinations will still remain in South East Asia, followed by Europe and North America.
Why should DMOs not miss your talk at ICTT 2019?
First of all, I will be introducing the market and current trends, followed by Chinese Social media and how to use them to attract/communicate your product to Chinese tourist. Second, China is biggest outbound market in the world and it will keep growing, there is no other market in the world that is so big at the same time still having lots of growth potential. Third, I will be sharing other destinations cases of how they have successfully attracted and communicated their message to Chinese tourists.