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Country's alarming tourism deficit [China Daily: Europe Weekly](China Daily: Europe Weekly Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Key strategies country needs to consider to become top tourist destination For the international tourism industry, "China" has been a buzzword for years, mainly for the country's expanding outbound tourism. After two decades of consistent and rapid growth, the train that is China, now the world's largest source of tourism and its top spender, does not appear to be stopping anytime soon. But contrary to outbound tourism, China's outlook for inbound tourism is a less rosy picture. According to the China Tourism Academy, last year, China received about 129 million overseas tourists, a 2.51-percent decrease over 2012. Indeed, overseas tourist arrivals have been falling for nine straight quarters since early 2012. To put this into perspective, world tourism is growing steadily, with a 5-percent growth in 2013 from the previous year. For a country aspiring to be a major world tourism power, the inconvenient truth is that China now tops the world in tourism deficit at $80 billion in 2013. There is a massive imbalance between the amount of inbound tourism revenue and the generous spending abroad by Chinese shoppers. China's decline in inbound tourism may be attributed to numerous non-tourism factors such as a strong yuan, the slow recovery of the world's economy, the 2013 bird flu, terrorist attacks, China's tight visa policy and the worsening smog. Yet, the Chinese tourism industry also needs to revisit its strategies. Here are some thoughts worthy of attention: Improving 'Brand China' In recent years, many of China's neighboring countries have invested heavily in building their destination brand (such as India's highly successful "Incredible India" campaign), but China's tourism marketing efforts in this regard are not as visible. Our research on US tourists suggests that most of them are fully aware of China as a country, many know that China is rapidly growing and full of business opportunities, but few think of it as a holiday destination because they know very little about China's tourism attributes. China needs to enhance its tourism profile in key source markets and project a clear, contemporary and unified national destination image. China is historically challenged by stereotypes or distorted images from the Western media. Political issues aside, many foreign tourists associate China with being overcrowded, hectic and polluted, which does not fit their ideal destination for a relaxing holiday. These frenetic images need to be targeted through a sustained, comprehensive counterbranding effort. A significant promotion investment will be required so that "Brand China" can viably compete with such prominent and visible competitors as Japan and Thailand. Riding the technology bandwagon Numerous studies have shown that the Internet, and increasingly social media, play crucial roles for international tourists in searching for information, booking flights and hotels and sharing experiences. Destinations and service providers on the Chinese mainland must establish and enhance their presence on the Internet and social media in key target markets. They need to use more sophisticated ways to understand the social media habits of international tourists and what high-tech gadgets they use. They also need to communicate with their target markets more effectively. Selling experiences, not places Chinese destinations and tourism practitioners need to focus more on designing unique, signature experiences. Today's international travelers care more about what to do than what to see. They care more about earning bragging rights for fun stories on the road, with destinations as backdrops. To put it differently, a place is only relevant if it is associated with a location-specific experience. This is particularly the case with repeat visitors - those who have visited China before and are interested in coming back. According to our research, international tourists expect a more authentic and in-depth cultural experience (such as homestay arrangements) when visiting China. The conventional package tour focusing mainly on sightseeing does not satisfy such needs. Of course, a memorable experience is not complete without a human touch. In this sense, friendly Chinese people and the increasingly sophisticated "Asian hospitality," not just attractions and vistas, should be heavily promoted. Markets and niche products In the past Chinese inbound tourism focused mainly on developed countries in North America, Europe and some of China's Asian neighbors. Pundits around the world suggested that emerging economies such as the countries of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bloc will power world tourism development in the near future. Euromonitor, a market research firm in London, predicted that tourists from emerging markets will account for 43 percent of the world's total by 2015. The importance of the emerging markets to China needs to be recognized and appreciated. Further, China needs to consider developing new, niche travel products, such as movie tourism (travel spawned from movies or TV programs), medical tourism (medical or health trips), and food tourism (culinary destinations). Today, winners in the highly competitive tourism industry understand how to plan, strategize and use plentiful resources in a sophisticated way. As one of the world's top tourism destinations, China has incredible cultural heritage, fantastic natural resources and cutting-edge infrastructure. It is time for China to step up its game. The author is an associate professor with the School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management at the University of South Carolina. He is also director of the China-US Tourism Research Center at Nankai University in China. (China Daily European Weekly 10/31/2014 page9) (c) 2014 China Daily Information Company. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |