Warc, 23 August 2013
DALLAS: International hotel brands will need to adapt their
marketing strategies following new research that shows more Chinese travellers
are travelling independently rather than as part of a group and that their
numbers are rising.
The Chinese International Travel Monitor, from Hotels.com,
the hotel booking website, surveyed more than 3,000 Chinese international
travellers and more than 1,500 hoteliers around the world and found that 62% of
Chinese travellers said they preferred to travel independently.
Half of hoteliers reported an increase in the number of
Chinese guests during the past year and over the next three years 10%
anticipated an increase of more than 50%, while a further 47% foresaw a rise of
between 11% and 50%.
The profile of Chinese tourists is also changing, with their
average annual salary now standing at about $17,750. Nigel Pocklington, chief
marketing officer at Hotels.com, told the Financial Times: "Yes, there are
an elite that the luxury goods retailers are interested in, but the Chinese
tourist is now genuinely middle class."
Hotels will need to respond to the issues raised by the
Chinese travellers in the survey. Three quarters said hoteliers needed to
improve the provision of translated items, such as welcome literature,
websites, TV programs and newspapers. And 42% wanted to see more Mandarin-speaking
hotel staff.
The extent of the current disconnect becomes clear when
looking at hoteliers' existing provisions for Chinese tourists. One quarter
said they offered cultural awareness training to staff, but just 11% produced
welcome materials in Mandarin.
Crucially, the ability to accept Chinese payment methods was
highlighted by 26% of Chinese travellers as a key area for improvement.
Decisions on travel destinations relied to a large extent on
personal recommendation (30%), online sites and social media, and Johan
Svanstrom, managing director of Hotels.com Asia Pacific, advised hoteliers to
focus their marketing strategies on the last two of these.
He worried, however, that "the pace of growth in the
volume of Chinese travellers appears to be outstripping the pace of change in
the hotel industry".
An area beyond marketers' control is how easily Chinese
tourists can obtain visas, a factor which takes on greater significance when
travelling independently. The UK China Visa Alliance, for example, claims that
the British economy misses out on more than £1bn of extra spending due to its
stringent visa rules.
Data sourced from PR Newswire, Financial Times; additional
content by Warc staff
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