Co-founder & President of Dragon Trail

TravConsult:

1. Could you give a quick overview of the Internet & Social Media landscape in China, and how it is connected to changing trends when it comes to travel & tourism in China?

JT:

FIT and high-end group travel in China is increasing due to a growing trend for individualism (and not wanting to be part of traditional tour groups). As a result, customized travel experiences are becoming more important due to increased affluence. However, it is still difficult for Chinese people to plan their own trip. Only a few travel operators are currently able to cater to the changing needs.

However, with over 470 million Internet users and over 300 million mobile Internet users, 33% of which access the world wide web via their palm-sized cell phones (Analysis International July 2010) and 92% social media engagement, the Internet has become the most influential medium in China, outpacing all other countries (Digital Influence Index 2010). Sites like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter have fallen victim to the Great Firewall of China and are blocked in China. Local Internet companies rule the digital space – numbers are staggering. Chinese consumers use the Internet as a research tool, more than any other medium and e-commerce, while still small, is growing rapidly for travel purchases (Nielsen Outbound Travel Report 2009). The power of the internet in China has never been stronger and the potential for international travel and tourism companies to increase brand awareness and generate demand has not even begun to be realized.

Dragon Trail believes that spreading the word about a brand, or a new website, is best achieved through a combination of traditional marketing & PR, viral campaigns, direct consumer engagement and influencer marketing.

TravConsult:

2. How long have you been involved with outbound Chinese travel market and how did you become interested in this fast-growing market?

JT:

I co-founded Dragon Trail with George Cao 2009. George also got his MBA from the Hotel School at Cornell University. While George has vast background in travel technology both in the US & in China, having launched one of the first travel meta search prize comparison websites back in 2005, I come from a background in digital marketing, most recently with organisations such as Fairmont Hotels & resorts, and the Canadian Tourism Commission. At that time, just 2 yrs ago, people started to actively look at the Chinese outbound tourism market, due to drastic changes in visa regulations, increased wealth in China, and a great appetite for travel to explore the world. But my real interest was piqued back in 2006 when I was head of Global Marketing Strategy for the Canadian Tourism Commission. The CTC offices in Asia include Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo, and I was engaged in developing e-marketing strategies for these source markets, and as such visited China in 2007. I was amazed by the growth and the potential, but at that time, did not realize the power that the Internet will have in terms of communication. I only knew that the Internet is vastly different in China and highly complex, witnessing Internet censorship at first hand (at that time it was cool for me to see, now it is just an annoyance… and good for business). I was also invited to participate at the first Search Engine Strategies Conference in Xiamen, and on that trip was invited to meet with various Chinese Internet companies, including Baidu and Yahoo China.

TravConsult:

3. When did you first start researching and working with social media and Internet usage in China and how has it changed since then?

JT:

My first work related to Internet marketing in China was actually back in 2004 when I was head of Internet Strategy at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. I was charged with developing market specific search engine optimized localized minii0sites for various key source markets and China was one of these markets. But active involvement with Internet usage in China started end of 2008 when I was in Beijing for a hotel development project that was “swept away” by the financial crisis. Witnessing the tremendous growth of Internet usage, the censorship of western social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and others, the DNA of the Chinese traditional media landscape, and the growth of travel and tourism in China, it became a no-brainer to start an organization that would help tourist boards, hotels, and cruise lines to leverage the Internet and social media channels in China to reach and connect with Chinese consumers, especially those that were ready to experience travel their way instead of large pre-packaged tour groups. Back in 2009 it was extremely hard to speak to tourist boards and hotel companies about leveraging social media and online marketing for their China initiatives. Their eyes rolled back, and at the end they asked if I had a list of Chinese tour operators I could give to them. This has changed tremendously in two years. Now China has the most Internet users in the world and growing at a penetration rate of just over 30%. The influence of the Internet is nowhere greater than in China, over 90% of Chinese Internet users trust a company more when they actively micro-blog (using sites like Sina Weibo in China, the Twitter equivalent) – in comparison to the Us where that number is 22%.

TravConsult:

4. Destinations around the world are chasing Chinese tourists. Which countries/destinations are utilizing social media to attract Chinese tourists and how successful have they been to date?

JT:

Most tourist boards and hotel brands are only just now getting more comfortable using western social media channels in their marketing initiatives, and many while using social media still have a flawed or a “me too” strategy (remember that there are still many organizations where Facebook, Youtube, Twitter etc are blocked for employees), China is definitely a market that scares many when it comes to social media. And rightfully so – it is highly complex and quite aggressive. Without the right technology expertise, or even knowing it, spammers and hackers may flood a company’s database with fake customer data, and take all the prizes of the contest or campaign competition. The “water cooler army” (http://www.chinatraveltrends.com/2010/06/complexity-of-brand-reputation-management-online-in-china/) is active and organisations with no expertise or intimate relationships with Chinese Internet and social media companies may experience some interesting surprises.

However, there are various tourist boards that are getting creative to leverage social media in China for their campaigns. The Canadian Tourism Commission for example has launched first two phases of their initial awareness campaign after receiving ADS status. The first phase was called “Hello Canada” and focussed on a virtual trip application (a proprietary Dragon Trail technology) where Chinese people could virtually fly from Beijing , Shanghai or Guangzhou to Canada and complete one of three virtual trips for a chance to be entered to win a real life trip to Canada. On the way, participants had to fulfil tasks (just as following the Canadian Tourism Commission Sina Weibo account- weibo.com/canadatravel) or invite friends in order to increase their chances and complete the trips faster. Over 3.5 million people visited the sites, and almost 300,000 customer data (including email, mobile phone, and Chinese residence) were captured. The second phase, which ran in June and July (www.explore.canada.travel) was called “Explore Canada” and brought out the Canadian experiences in a multi-media campaign (leveraging Dragon Trail’s proprietary technology TripShow application). Experiences could be bought exclusively via Ctrip.com.

Other destinations that have leveraged social media in China include Banff Lake Louise Tourism in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. While many tourist boards may start with social media in China, we have noticed that often organisations just spend advertising funds on social media sites, instead of leveraging the social media channels to reduce advertising spend in order to achieve a viral spread. In the case of our award-winning Banff Lake Louise Tourism Campaign, we developed their Chinese website (www.canadianrockies.cn) and then launched the site with a social media campaign without any advertising spend, seeing almost 200,000 visitors and almost 80,000 registrations.

TravConsult:

5. Is it necessary for destinations and tourism suppliers today to utilize social media within China in order to gain presence and increase Chinese visitor numbers? If so why?

JT:

I would say yes and no. It is most important to have a strategy in place and then leverage social media channels to increase buzz and reduce advertising cost. Just using social media for the sake of using social media makes no sense anywhere and in China could actually harm your brand. But if done strategically, it can be very powerful. I believe that soon, no brand can actually compete in China without using social media as a critical part of their marketing mix. But as mentioned earlier, social media and the Internet have great influence in Chinese purchase decision, greater than traditional media and travel agents. It is also critical to understand the shift to wealth in second and third tier cities. While just a few years ago, the majority of wealth in China was situated in first tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, now the fastest growing wealth is in cities like Dalian, Chengdu Xiamen and many others. Previous strategies to reach affluent people in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou via traditional means will not work anymore. Affluent people that travel and spend money are younger (about 25 years younger than in the US and Europe) live all over China and use the Internet to get inspired and make purchase decision. So the importance of the Internet in China is pretty clear. The other interesting fact is that Chinese consumers are a lot more predisposed to receiving brand messages on social media channels, compared to Internet users in North America and Europe, where these actions could negatively affect the brand. The reason is that Chinese people want to learn about brands in order to see which ones are right for them to be associated with to fit into the right group of people.

TravConsult:

6. Many tourism destinations and the suppliers within these destinations are adding Chinese language web pages to their main business website. Is having a webpage translated into Chinese language enough or is it more beneficial to actually have a Chinese language website hosted on a domain in China in order to represent your business? Please explain.

JT:

Yes, having a relevant China-hosted website is critical in order to enter the Chinese market. Chinese people judge a brand by their existence or non-existence, as well as their quality of their web presence, and draw immediate associations to the possible offline experience of that organization. Having staff that speaks Mandarin, reads and writes Simplified Chinese is valuable as that person can be engaged in content development and maintenance, as well as consumer engagement. But it does not replace the need of a holistically executed digital marketing and social media strategy in China.

TravConsult:

7. What initial advice would you give a destination marketing team regarding the Internet and social media in China, if they have just made the decision to begin attracting Chinese tourists for the first time?

JT:

The first advice I would give a company is to set your expectations right. I have done e-commerce and online marketing in Europe and North America and their rules of engagement, the metrics, and the channels are vastly different. Second, develop a strategy (in partnership with a trusted partner in China that knows the landscape, has the relationships and the experience in travel as well as social media in China and globally). Make sure that the strategy is a layered plan, and not an ad-hoc campaign (like spending some money on Baidu and advertising). Develop a website that is relevant and not just a translation of the English site. Website hosting in China is critical in order to ensure organic local search engine optimization and optimal accessibility. Constant optimization of the social media landscape is critical in order to ensure content seeding, consumer engagement and brand reputation. A solid technology partner is vital, especially when running campaigns, to ensure data quality and protect the database from hackers. Local representation, especially with intimate knowledge and relationships in the travel and Internet space in China is critical in order to ensure successful strategy execution.

In short: do it right, invest appropriate resources and be patient, or don’t do it at all. The time to plant your seeds in China is now, but the fruits will only come a bit later to the ones that take care of the tree, water it with perseverance, give it the resources it needs to grow. But to those, the fruits will be juicy and plump!