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#China: How digital tools can boost EU-China tourism

Published

9 years ago

June 27, 2017

Ctrip CEO Jane Jie Sun delivering a presentation on digital tourism at the European Parliament

On the occasion of the 19th EU-China Bilateral Summit, ChinaEU organized a seminar with key members of the European Parliament in preparation of the EU-China Tourism Year that will be held in 2018. Guest speakers were Jane Jie Sun, CEO of China’s leading online travel agent Ctrip, and Matthew Brennan, expert on China’s digital marketing and WeChat.

The participants mulled over how digital tools and in particular online booking platforms and social media can boost the number of Chinese tourists in Europe. Today, China is the world’s largest travel market in terms of expenditure and the second largest in terms of outbound travel, and European destinations can improve their position in this market. According to the China Tourism Academy, the official tourism research institute of China National Tourism Administration, in 2016 the number of outbound tourism in China reached 122 million people, and Chinese visitors spent €100 billion (about 760 billion RMB) in overseas destinations. Statistics show that Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the U.S. and the Maldives are the top five destinations where Chinese tourists spent the most money. The first EU country, Italy, comes only ninth.

How can EU destinations be made more attractive for Chinese tourists? Jane Jie Sun referred to structural measures that she had listed in a recent opinion article on China Daily: more flexibility for travel visas and investment in ports and connections - for instance, adding direct flights between cities, offering charter flights and special trains for the convenience of travelers; improved port and harbor clearance infrastructure; additional cross-border travel cooperation zones and international travel ports; improved service quality of scenery spots. Online travel agencies are there to highlight to potential clients the improvements from which they can benefit. If you make an attractive offer, Chinese consumers will take it up. Mrs Sun gave the example of a worldwide tour in 88 days at the price of 200,000 USD per person which was sold out by Ctrip in only 17 seconds. "Ctrip's mission is to make travel more convenient and bring the world closer together” concluded Mrs Sun, in order to “bridge the Eastern and the Western cultures, and promote peace around the world through international travel."

Eric Philippart, responsible of the EU-China Year of Tourism at the directorate general Grow from the European Commission, acknowledged that visa is an important obstacle to the tourism cooperation among countries. Granting Chinese and European citizens with a ten-year visa to visit the other region would create an important incentive for travelers to return for a second trip, taking advantage of the policy facilitation.

China Channel Co-Founder Matthew Brennan presenting China’s digital landscape at the European Parliament

Matthew Brennan, co-founder of China Channel, explained the potentialities of digital marketing in China. “If one is to understand China’s digital ecosystem, one needs to understand the phenomenon of WeChat. WeChat is not social media. It is not, as many people put it, China’s version of WhatsApp. WeChat is a tool, an operating system which integrates all different functions of life.” In order to attract Chinese tourists, Europe needs to become smarter and link to the very tools used by Chinese travelers, such as e-wallet solutions like WeChat Pay and Alipay, online booking apps like Ctrip and Dianping, and leading mapping platform Baidu Maps.

From left to right: Jacopo Sertoli, CEO of Select Holding; Eric Philippart, Special Counsellor at DG GROW; and Elisabetta Gardini, hosting MEP.

Jacopo Sertoli, CEO of Select Holding, added that the European hotel sector can play on this trend. In 2010, he launched "Select Italy & Travel”, which rapidly became one of the leading players in China’s high-end outbound travel market. The recipe was ‘Welcome Chinese’, a hospitality standard that he launched in 2013 together with the China Tourism Academy and the China National Tourism Administration. The standard guarantees Chinese tourists to feel comfortable, travel easily and feel welcomed. It helps hotels/resorts, museums, amusement parks and all sightseeing and tourist destinations increase their reach in the Chinese outbound tourism market.

Check out the best moments of the event in this video.

Full Presentations of the guest speakers can be found here.

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