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BY PETROS MAVROS
According to the latest research by Nielsen, the Internet is the favourite means for the Chinese to search for tourist information in their effort to choose their holiday destination.
The Nielsen data suggests that 61% of Chinese who travelled for leisure have searched the basic information for their destination on the web and 48% of those have consulted interactive websites like Rating Sites, Forums, Social Media, Blogs, etc. to confirm that the information found on the destination’s official sites are valid.
The same research shows that the comments and experiences shared on the Internet by other travellers largely affect the new travellers’ decision. The research also showed that the traditional travel agents are only involved in two out of the five trips that Chinese travellers are taking. Furthermore, 70% remember the online destination advertisements more than the other means of communication and 40% remember the corresponding advertisements from magazines, newspapers, radio and even television.
As a conclusion derived from the Nielsen research, a clear Online Marketing Policy needs to be implemented urgently in order to attract a piece of the pie of the approximately 50 million Chinese travellers (official statistics of 2008) who are willing to meet new cultures and explore new destinations. This policy should not only to be implemented by government agencies but it is even more important to the private sector and can only achieved through specialised training programmes which in Cyprus are subsidised by the Human Resource Development Authority.
What do we do as a destination to attract the interest of the “Red Dragon”? If we consider that by 2013 China will be the first English-speaking country worldwide, then as a destination with a strong presence of the English language we should enhance our efforts to attract Chinese tourists. The different tourist resorts and towns in Cyprus should take action online and reinvent their websites so as to become more interactive and human oriented. The Regional Boards of Tourism should at last co-operate with the private sector and the professional associations in order to convert their websites into one-stop shopping sites. Their lack of presence at this moment only achieves the diversion of Internet visitors to the websites of competitor destinations thanks to the adage, “if you don’t have it, I buy from somebody else”.
The Cyprus Tourism Organisation (CTO) cannot and should not play this role since the diversity of our resorts should be marketed by the resorts and this is what Brussels is urging within the framework of the programs for Regional Development. Nevertheless, the CTO has already started implementing online PR policy in the different social media.
In addition, we should mention here the crucial role of the airlines. In the case of China, we have the chance due to our geographical location to become a stop-over destination to Europe. The millions of Chinese travellers could stay for a week in Cyprus and one week in any other European country either on their arrival or departure from that country. This can be achieved only with a strong air transport policy on behalf of the government agencies and other bodies.
From the Nielsen research we conclude that the sterile protocols of tourist agreements, such as the one signed on May 13 by the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism are useless unless they are followed by feasible and state blessing B2B agreements.
Business to business agreements can be accomplished with the presence of Cypriot tourist businessmen on the framework of events, such as the professional tourist exhibition China Outbound Travel Trade Market (www.cottm.com) which takes place in Beijing every spring – for 2010 it will take place from April 28 to 30.
Petros Mavros is Director of Avantless Ltd.
