Here’s Jing Travel’s weekly guide to stories that give insight into Chinese travel trends and how they affect the industry’s main players.
Chinese outbound tourism has hit its low season with the newly-extended Tomb Sweeping (Qingming) holiday marked as the last big travel holiday until summer vacation. But that doesn’t mean destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and travel industry players aren’t planning to do more to attract Chinese tourists throughout the year. With the help of social media campaigns and influencers on those platforms, destinations and businesses can generate interest among netizens to get on potential travelers’ wish lists.
Alipay Could Improve Sports Tourism
Mobile payment platform Alipay has partnered with Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., to allow Chinese tourists to purchase tickets, concessions, and souvenirs at arena events. The venue is already of interest to China’s basketball fans, but the Washington Capitals and Alipay hope to generate more interest in ice hockey with the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.
Facial Recognition Payment in Hong Kong
Duty Zero by cdf, which is operated by CDF-Lagardère Company (a partnership between China Duty Free Group and Lagardère Travel Retail) has introduced new facial recognition technology for shoppers at Hong Kong International Airport. Through new payment terminals at the duty-free shop, customers can type in their phone numbers and then scan their faces to complete the transaction through a linked credit option.
Alibaba Teams Up with Singapore
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore Tourism Board on April 16th to co-develop marketing campaigns and content aimed at Chinese tourists. The agreement is an extension of a previous agreement between the Singapore Tourism Board and Alipay that began in 2017.
Family-Friendly Tourism Becoming Hot Market
In the fragmented market of Chinese online travel agencies, some companies have an advantage in attracting niche demographics. But now, more online travel agencies are noticing that the family travel market isn’t a niche, and they need to provide this booming segment with better services. In response, Chinese online travel agency Caissa (凯撒旅游) has introduced a new product category that caters to mothers and their young children called “Mother’s piece of mind, happy cute baby” (妈妈省心, 萌娃开心). The company hopes the product offerings will help it to compete with its bigger rivals like Ctrip.com International and Alibaba’s Fliggy.
Indonesia Promotes Lesser-Known Destinations
Indonesia sees its fair share of Chinese tourists, as the country benefits from being a short-haul destination for most travelers. But the majority of those Chinese arrivals head for the major destinations of Bali and Jakarta. As the nation has set a target of attracting 3.57 million Chinese tourists across 2019, it has decided to also promote smaller destinations like Lake Toba, Tanjung Kelayang, and Kepulauan Seribu via online travel agencies like Ctrip.
