·
A joint survey by Ivy
Alliance, CCT and PATA has found that 60% of Chinese intend to travel in 2020
and 45% are willing to travel abroad
·
According to China Tourism
Academy, 155 million Chinese tourists travelled overseas in 2019
·
Chinese
visitors spent $277.3 billion in 2018 making it the top outbound market
With the spread of coronavirus under control and
domestic leisure travel growing, Middle East travel professionals are now looking
to China to initiate international tourism. A joint survey conducted by the Ivy
Alliance Tourism Consulting, China Comfort Travel Group (CCT), and Pacific Asia
Travel Association (PATA), was discussed by a panel of experts during
the three-day ATM Virtual event that is currently taking place.
The
Virtual ATM China Tourism Forum, took
an in-depth look at the potential of the Chinese outbound leisure market post
COVID-19’s closed borders and what overseas destinations and attractions can do
to reassure and convince Chinese tourists, that their destination is safe to
visit.
Danielle Curtis,
Exhibition Director Middle East, Arabian Travel Market, said: “In China we are already
witnessing the green-shoots of recovery and many industry experts are looking
to China to kickstart international tourism.”
Lisa-Dinh-tourism-director-via-outlets
Moderated
by Dr.
Adam Wu, the panellists for this session, included Dr.
Taleb Rifai, Chairman,
International Institute of Peace for Tourism (IIPT) and former Secretary
General of the UNWTO; Helen
Shapovalova, Founder
& Director, Pan Ukraine; Lisa
Dinh, Tourism Director, VIA Outlets and Tony Ong, Chief
Business Officer and Vice President of HCG International Travel Group, which
has over 7000 local travel agents across China focusing on outbound travel.
dr.-Taleb-Rifai-chairman-international-institute-of-peace-for-tourism-iipt-and-former-secretary-general-of-the-unwto
Dr. Rifai, opened the debate comparing COVID-19 to
other crises that the industry has faced in the past.
“After 9/11, people had to get used to security restrictions
such as removing their shoes and belts, no liquids, now that is a way of life. People
are now afraid to travel, but things will change, new protocols will be
introduced and the quicker that happens the more trust and confidence will be
communicated, bringing travellers back.”
He also added that governments need to cooperate by signing bi-lateral agreements and an international certification programme would help to standardise levels of sanitisation and general protocol.
Helen-Shapovalova-founder-director-pan-ukraine
Helen Shapovalova commented that ecotourism would be
major trend when international travel restrictions were lifted. “Natural settings with green open spaces, mountains,
rivers and fresh air will play a big part post COVID-19.”
Shopping has always been a top attraction for Chinese
tourists especially luxury goods and Lisa Dinh, expected changes here as well,
balancing risk management with the customer experience. “Trust is the new
currency. The demand is still there, but health and safety and relationship
building will be key. Training will be essential to changing mindset.”
Other issues discussed included, technology, the role
of international industry associations and why destinations need to change
their propositions, safety, trust and consumer confidence were often cited
throughout the hour-long debate.
Returning to the survey, nearly half of those questioned
said they preferred group tours but given the coronavirus outbreak, many
Chinese would now travel, in smaller groups catering for better social
distancing.
Tony Ong remarked, “Groups will be smaller, reduced to
10-50 people, which will probably happen one to two months after the borders
have opened.”
Other sessions today (Tuesday 2nd
June) included, ‘Bouncing Back: Tourism Strategies for the Future’ and
‘Catapulting Resilience Through Technology and Analytics’. Videos of both
sessions are now available on demand – to view them, please log on to atmvirtual.eventnetworking.com/register/
The third and final day of the debut ATM Virtual will
feature an
interview with Wizz Air CEO, Joszef Varadi, taking place
from 11am – 12pm GST (8am – 9am BST), while the International
Travel Investment Conference summit, will discuss
sustainable investment measures for the Middle East travel and tourism sector
to restore travellers’ confidence post-pandemic.
The responsible tourism session, ‘The
Implications of Covid-19 for Responsible Hospitality’, will
also take place on day three, followed by the Influencers’ session titled ‘Make
Your Connection: Influencers as a Key Part of the Marketing Mix – COVID-19 The
Road to Recovery’. This session will feature a panel of
prominent travel and lifestyle influencers discussing the importance of
creating relevant, engaging, and impactful travel and lifestyle content in the
current climate of best practices. A special networking event focusing on the
Influencer Tourism market will follow.
Concluding the event is a webinar titled ‘What
are you doing to energise your operational performance?’,
which will discuss the power of data analytics in helping to maximise
performance.
There
will also be a series of independently moderated, roundtables designed to
discuss emerging hot topics such as domestic travel, luxury travel trends,
corporate travel, food travel and tourism recovery plans. Day three will
kick-off with the ‘Will
Hygiene Surpass Price, Facilities and Services, in the ‘New Normal’ Hotel
Experience?’ live webinar from 10am – 10.45am GST (7am –
7.45am BST), moderated by Hotelier Middle East editor Claudia de Brito.
Other
round tables are available on demand and include ‘The Future
of Corporate Travel’ led by
Breaking Travel News; The
Changing Face of Luxury Family Travel hosted by Destinations of the World News; ‘The New
Normal: What the Future Looks Like for the Hotel and Tourism Industry’ and ‘Middle
East: The New Asian Source Market’
both by Trav Talk Middle East, as well as TTN Middle East’s ‘Challenges
Faced Today by the Travel Providers’
and ‘Latest
travel updates, projections and upcoming trends and focus on near-, mid- and
long-term travel prospects’.
The Ministry of Tourism Saudi Arabia and
the Italian Tourist Board are both Gold sponsors of ATM Virtual.
