Chinese Tourism Newsletter 中国游客 #134, 2021, December 21
In late 2020, while Chinese tourism in China has almost returned to its late 2019 levels and the most optimistic believe that several million Chinese tourists will leave their Asian regional bubble by 2021, some trends are often accelerated by the health crisis, mixing and prefiguring maybe 2021 and beyond. The new Chinese tourist profile, the cultural orientation of Chinese tourism in 2021, and the growing use of digital tools and electronic commerce while traveling or remotely (livestream)
1) 60 million Chinese tourists outside of their Asian regional bubble in 2021?
Domestic rebound in Chinese tourism.
The figures for Chinese tourism in China during the National Day in October but also those for the New Year holidays (January 1 - 3, 2021) and those of spring 2021 which despite some concerns set records and attest that the Chinese are new ready to travel once health confidence has returned. Some even believe that the Chinese are impatient to state again international travel. The health and economic context (confidence in the destination, budget and limited number of days) will probably influence the characteristics of the trips, but the Chinese envy is there. A Hilton survey of 20 major cities in China found that the Chinese have a "travel memory deficit", and therefore pent-up demand for travel that "is bubbling". "Travel is an unstoppable force and we know consumers are eager to reconnect with the people and the places they love." Travel memories are some of the happiest of their lives, said 85% of Chinese respondents.
Different fates of Asian tourist bubbles
The recent news of tourist bubbles in Asia has had varying degrees of success. Between Singapore and Hong-Kong the project was, finally, canceled. Between China and South Korea, on the other hand, it has been beneficial for the development of tourism. After exchanges in business tourism in the summer of 2020 between the two countries, South Korea has become, with Japan and outside Hong Kong and Macao, the cross-border country preferred by Chinese tourists to the detriment of Thailand where, precisely, the tourist bubbles with China do not work well. Could this example be transposed to Europe? Subject of course to an improved health situation could we consider bubbles or tourism between two border countries such as between France and Germany?
100 million ! 100 million ?
Further to this question, opinions differ on the date of return of international tourists to Europe. It is clear that the health situation and the outlook for the 3rd wave give reason to the most pessimistic who believe that no international tourist will emerge from his regional bubble before 2022. And that in this context as stated by Caroline Leboucher, general manager of 'Atout France, "The recovery will first be domestic, then essentially European, in the face of this crisis which is out of all proportion to what the tourism sector has experienced in the past". In this context, it therefore seems reasonable to estimate that Chinese tourists will not return to Europe in 2021 and that it will be necessary to wait until the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, on February 1, 2022 to see the return of Chinese tourists to Europe. .
Some are banking on another scenario and not only deem it relevant to prepare but also consider it just as relevant to devote a small part of their budget to it, whereas everything leads on the contrary to refocusing on the domestic market and focusing on the maintenance of jobs.
Once again, according to a fascinating article on the Skift website, which I welcome here, the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) expects 100 million international trips from mainland China in 2021, sealing China "again as the first source market for international tourism ”, according to Wolfgang Georg Arlt, CEO of COTRI. Cotri envisages in this context, that 60 million Chinese will come out of their regional bubble against 40 million who will go in 2021 to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao (the latter is the current big winner: 500,000 arrivals from mainland China, the only destination where Chinese Pleasure Travelers do not need to self-quarantine for 14 days upon return). While according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2019, out of 169 million Chinese travelers abroad, 100 million went to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, 69 million to the rest of the world.
In China's overseas travel industry, operators are gearing up for summer sales in Europe, said Simon Bosshart, China, Asia-Pacific and Global Accounts Director of Switzerland Tourism, which has never stopped marketing with the Chinese despite the crisis. "We are convinced that we will see the first border openings in the spring. The tourism organization publicized the Swiss winter programs to travel professionals and the media in Beijing and Shanghai. At the beginning of the summer, he began to “intensify” communications on the attractions of vacations in Switzerland after the pandemic. And once that happens, things could change quickly, ”said Simon Bosshart. Switzerland wants to be ready for this like many other destinations (Atout France and Ctrip, in Poland around gastronomy, the digital edition of Tourisme France China with the Paris Region and Paris tourist board, but also in Austria.
2) Will 2021 spell the end of Chinese group tourism?
Is the health crisis also accelerating the change in the typical profile of Chinese tourists who seem to be changing their relationship to travel? Many market players expect demand to shift towards values such as safety first, less crowded places, more nature, more health and family friendliness. As part of the domestic holidays in 2020, Chinese tourists generally used hotels of a lower standard than those they used previously. “The current feeling within the Chinese travel industry appears to be that FIT and tailor-made travel will restart first, while traditional group pleasure travel will take longer to recover,” said Sedlinger.
“The winners will be those who are prepared for new Chinese visitors, whose preferences have changed through the crisis - more family, more nature, new places, more experiences, less bling,” said Arlt. Individualization, proximity, nature, have been highlighted in an attempt to characterize the trends exacerbated by the pandemic. The resumption of domestic tourism in China, echoing the resumption of domestic tourism in France between the 1st and the 2nd wave, has added another trend: tourism based on health confidence. A greater environmental concern when traveling, would it not also concern Chinese tourists? Chinese tourism in Asia, in the proximity of its regional bubble, will it resemble European tourism in its regional bubble, while contrasting with Chinese tourism in Europe?
3) Tourist livestreaming : Dream now, travel Later....
During their telephone exchange on December 9, 2020, Presidents Xi Jinping and Emmanuel Macron called for bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Tourism is one of the areas of bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
A first example is the Exchange on the development strategy of the destination France between Jane Jie Sue, CEO Ctrip and HE the French Ambassador to China, Mr. Laurent Bili in 2019. Another example was the partnership between Alibaba and Paris Region. Set up in 2018, it has forged a 3-level partnership: the referencing of Paris and France on Fliggy the OTA of the Alibaba group, the journeys of Chinese tourists in France and mobile payment on Alipay (France was in 2019, the 5th most preferred country for Chinese tourists for mobile payment and the 1st outside Asia). Using Alibaba's smart city, city brain solution.
This bilateral cooperation in tourism between France and China has adapted to the health crisis.
Today, Atout France - The France Tourism Development Agency Shanghai was invited by Trip.com Group university at the CTRIP Shanghai Headquarter for a meet up with the marketing and sales department team to introduce top french cities and activities that can be promoted among Chinese tourism market.. It was a pleasure to talk and share experience with the audience and see how they all stay positive and eager to travel again in France when the situation will be more stable. 全世界加油！Thanks to Marion Debuy
While e-commerce innovation was focused on e-commerce live streams, covid accelerated the development of live streams and broadened it to other fields, such as tourism. One of the only Chinese players, with JD.com, to act both in the field of tourism and e-commerce, Alibaba has extended it to tourism by setting up livestreams in museums or European tourist sites and French. In addition to the Prado and the British Museum, the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre have, thanks to the partnership between the IDF region and Alibaba, been able to set up a livestream allowing Chinese tourists to continue to visit, virtually, the Paris Region tourist preferred by the Chinese. : the Palace of Versailles (May) and the Louvre (September) and Sunday, December 13 Fliggy Virtual Tourism Series went to Beaubourg. To see an extract of the video in Beaubourg
Without forgetting the Galeries Lafayette.
You can also find live streams on the Tik-Tok platform. After the Grand Palais this summer, this is also the case for the Chateau de Versailles. “It’s all about not having a media plan,” said Versailles community manager Thomas Garnier. “If you’re not intuitive and spontaneous it can’t work. I don’t even have a schedule for the month ahead.”
Garnier’s last post was a 20-second lightning trip around the palace at dusk, filmed with his phone. Future posts are set to explore themes like fashion, health and “gossip” about the palace’s history of pomp and revolution.
The Chateau de Versailles had already produced a Livestream in May on Fliggy.
The chance to zoom in on Tik-Tok with Visionary Marketing's exciting podcast (in French), is TikTok the social media platform of the future?
Other Chinese digital platforms have seen the interest of the livestream to maintain the link with Chinese tourists. This is the case of Baidu, which after the Baike digital museum to visit the castle of Fontainebleau online, is planning a livestream in France in 2021. It is also the case of Mafengwo The first live broadcast via Mafengwo from the center- Christmas town Brno. Despite the situation this year, we reached 93,000 subscribers. #visitczechrepublic #czechrepublic #brno #mafengwo #畅游捷克 #捷克 #布尔诺 #马蜂窝
It's also the case on Weibo, 以 犹未 尽 - 期待 出发 Join us tomorrow for a special Hanukkah celebration live from Shanghai! With the famous Chinese KOL who will share her experiences of her trip to Israel.Dream now, travel later to Israel 🇮🇱 Israel Ministry of Tourism Roy Kriezman 蓝天
Digital tools are not only used for exchanges between European destinations and Chinese players, for example during this Christmas period (Atout France and Ctrip, in Poland around gastronomy, the digital edition of Tourisme France China with the Paris Région and Paris Tourist Board, but also in Austria, they also have, therefore, in the service of virtual tours of a new kind, the live stream. 2021 could see an acceleration of this trend of "Dream now, travel Later ", and at the same time accompany another trend in Chinese tourism, accelerated by Covid 19, cultural tourism, while 2021, subject of the year.
4) ... Serving Franco-Chinese cultural tourism in 2021
This event aims to promote France as a tourist destination in China, and vice versa, to promote China as a tourist destination in France. This Franco-Chinese Year of Cultural Tourism 2021, carried on the French side by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture, will be an opportunity to promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of France, the vitality of its creation and its artistic scene, its cultural and creative industries, its language and its way of life. This Year should also make it possible to promote French expertise in China for tourism and heritage purposes, particularly in the digital sector.
The objective for France is first of all to strengthen visits by Chinese tourists, by targeting the emergence of a new Chinese clientele, more educated and more affluent, for quality tourism. The second objective is to disseminate Chinese tourist flows beyond Paris and its region, to highlight the richness and cultural diversity of French territories.
This Franco-Chinese Year of Cultural Tourism 2021 will consist of the labeling of French events around sites or monuments or suitable events in honor of China during the year 2021. These events labeled in Chinese colors will then follow. promoted in China. In this context, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture identify the public and private initiatives that can be labeled throughout France.
Already, Emmanuel Macron's trip to China in 2019, on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic relations, was placed under the angle of culture. Indeed, the French president had inaugurated the Center Pompidou in Shanghai, the first branch of the Center Georges Pompidou outside Europe, after Malaga and Brussels. The exhibition at the Shanghai Museum saluting the French artistic tradition and its evolution through the prism of the masterpieces of the collections of the Beaux-Arts de Paris (École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris ) with more than 80 pieces: paintings and sculptures, books and models, including around twenty paintings from the Louvre.
We can also mention the Peking Opera among the various achievements of the French architect, Paul Andreu, in China who had also taught there and had been interviewed by Chinese television.
A special bond has been forged between Chinese artists and writers and France, especially since the beginning of the 20th century, symbolized, in particular, by Yan Pei-Ming. This contemporary Chinese visual artist, learned art in Dijon, has remained faithful to it. His exhibition in homage to the works of Gustave Courbet, at Ornans and at the Musée d'Orsay, recalls this historical cultural link that continues today. Yan Pei-Ming accompanied the President to China, like Gong Li, Jean-Michel Jarre, Annette Messager, Sophie Calle, Dai Sijie, or even Guillaume Canet. By way of illustration, biltateral relations, on tourism and culture, we could cite the project to create a Franco-Chinese Tourism Institute installed in Sichuan in 2021.
Live streams and e-commerce to promote French cultural tourism in the same way as French luxury?
The year 2021 of Franco-Chinese cultural tourism will be based in particular on the Dream now, travel Later thanks, in particular, to the livestreams that are being developed on different platforms (Fliggy, TikTok) and will allow Chinese tourists to now dream of French cultural tourist places. in 2021 (Chateau de Versailles, Louvre Museum, Center Georges Pompidou, Grand Palais ...) before being able to come back ... in the summer of 2021, during the New Year 2022? The novelty is that these livestreams also concern one of the other major levers of Chinese tourism in France: luxury, as evidenced by the #FliggyVirtualTourismSeries which passed through Galeries Lafayette during this Christmas period. This trend echoes the fact that for the first time this year, European and American luxury brands have fully played the game by participating in 11.11. Failing to be able to receive Chinese tourists, luxury brands and stores are trying to maintain the link with Chinese tourists.The Covid-19 pandemic has accentuated these underlying trends. “China plays the role of a safe haven for luxury brands whose sales have been severely affected in their home markets,” notes Sébastien Badault. Chinese tourists who normally take advantage of their stays abroad to rob the boutiques on the Champs-Elysées have stayed at home. “Many of them have turned to online shopping,” says Daniel Zipser. And thus be at the origin of the fact that the figures of 11/11 after increasing by 20% between 2012 and 2019 have made a big leap forward of 100% between 2019 and 2020 and in particular for international luxury brands and particularly French, Travel Later, but buy here and now.
Dream / buy now, travel later
In 2020, Chinese digital innovations have made it possible to adjust French luxury and cultural tourism consumption to the concept of Dream / buy now, travel later. If the most optimistic like Cotri see Chinese tourists come out of their bubble in 2021, which would suppose a return of confidence based on a vaccine that would have been proven over time, digital tools will make it possible to both adjust and adapt Chinese desires for luxury and cultural tourism in the French health context. It is significant to note that the new individual, hyper-connected Chinese tourists under 35 are both those who buy the most French luxury goods in France or on Chinese e-commerce platforms in 2020, and those who are increasingly interested in authentic and cultural tourism either in France or by participating in a livestream. Some major Chinese players in e-commerce and travel have understood both the impact of the livestream on luxury purchases on cultural tourism, which the health crisis has accelerated. At the same time as the deceleration of group travel, Alibaba has understood that the future of Chinese tourism in France also lies in the livestream or the links between e-commerce and travel for the richest through the merger between purchases on Tmall and travel tourism production (such as watches between 25,000 and 250,000 euros made in the Jura and Switzerland).
In this context, e-commerce platforms can adapt to the evolving health situation. Today, they can offer Chinese consumers via livestream and e-commerce to buy French products and virtually visit certain cultural gems. While also being able, when the health situation has improved, to accompany these same customers when they return to visit these tourist sites and to buy luxury products in France. In addition to this flexibility, they also benefit from an advantage to the detriment of brands, which own the data on their users. In addition, brands have less control over the discounts and coupons distributed by them at the time of checkout, and therefore on the final price of their goods. E-commerce platforms, real players in horizontal tourism intermediation are therefore in a strong position to offer luxury travel group offers (example shows on Tmall) or packaged offers (Fliggy / Taobao) and thus be in a favorable position for face the current health situation which makes uncertain the place of purchase of French luxury products or even French cultural tourism in 2021. Has the post-Covid cultural and digital tourism competition already started?