Poor presence and poor packages fail to attract Chinese travellers in the UK

28 May 2013  2039 | World Travel News

The UK is not doing enough to promote itself as a “must see” destination to the Chinese market and it is not offering good enough packages to beat the key European competitors of France, Italy and Switzerland – that’s the view of Travelzoo’s CEO for the Asia Pacific region, Jason Yap.

Yap, in the UK this week to meet with chiefs from the country’s inbound tourism industry, including UKinbound chief executive Mary Rance (pictured), to discuss the Chinese market, also dismissed Airport Passenger Duty (APD) and the challenging visa regulations for Chinese visitors, as the key reasons the UK is losing out on the lucrative Chinese market.

“The outbound Chinese market is huge and countries like Australia, France, Italy, Switzerland and Thailand are leaving the UK behind as a destination for Chinese travellers to visit.  Indeed the ‘must-do’ European tour for young, aspirational Chinese is a combination of France, Italy and Switzerland – promoted as ‘Fa-,Ee-,Rei’ tours by Chinese tour operators. The reason these countries are doing so much better than the UK is because they are driving demand from Chinese consumers with better marketing, promotions and packages than their British counterparts” said Yap.

He continued: “I hear analysts and commentators blaming APD and visa regulations in the UK as the main reasons the Chinese favour other European destinations over Britain. They definitely present a barrier to entry however I don’t think that this is the main or sole reason. The issue is more about the lack of good packages or the low profile of the UK as a holiday destination in China.”

Yap stated that the UK was underplaying some of its key strengths such as its world-famous schools and colleges (Oxford, Cambridge, Eton and Harrow) which hold massive appeal to the Chinese consumer. Yap also outlined a growing trend for Chinese tourists to take up ‘driving holidays’ which are being actively promoted by countries such as Australia and are proving hugely successful with the Chinese consumer who has a great interest in driving premium cars to multiple destinations in one overseas trip.

According to Travelzoo upwards of $1.5billion per annum is currently being lost by the UK because of lacklustre promotion and poor packages, which is causing the country’s tourism industry to miss out on the double-digit growth expected from China in the next year and beyond.

But Yap also pointed out that if the UK tourism industry keeps blaming British Government regulations and policies rather than address its marketing and promotions its decline as a tourism destination for the Chinese market would continue.

According to a recent survey by Travelzoo (Asia Pacific) the UK does not rank in the top ten of “must see” destinations for the affluent and ambitious young Chinese market, ranking instead as number 18. The top destinations are Australia, the Maldives, Thailand, Taiwan and the US and within Europe destinations out-ranking the UK are Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Spain.

 

Sourced: TravelDailyNews

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