Australia : Top Destination for Chinese Tourists

China is Australia’s fastest growing tourism market as well as its largest contributor to international visitor spending. By 2022 – 2023, the number of chinese visitors is expected to increase from USD685,000 to USD1.4 million, given that the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.

Chinese are continuing to travel all around the world, spending more and more money in shopping and entertainement. Chinese Tourists often join tour groups because they believe that they would experience fewer cultural and language barriers. High end tourists prefer hiring local guides or specialized agencies to help them to prepare their trip. In the upcoming years Australia is expected to get more and more Chinese tourists, of course with an increase in tourists comes along an increase in spending, 

Here are some interesting facts about chinese tourists in Australia :

• Chinese are the second-largest tourists for Australia, behind only New Zealand.
• Chinese travelers spend more when in Australia then they do in their country !

Australia is a top destination for chinese tourists, and their number has constantly been on the rise ever since 2012.

• 626,000 (2012)
• 646,779 (2013)

Australia’s political context and safety

Australia’s government system is based on the liberal democratic tradition, which includes
religious tolerance and freedom of speech and association. It’s institutions and practices reflect
British and North American models but are unique to Australia.

Australia is very safe to visit, major threats that Australia is known for are coming from dangerous flora and fauna species, reptiles, and natural disasters, and in many cases they can turn out to be deadly.

Coronavirus and Tourism

The COVID-19 pandemic is having damaging and long-lasting impacts on tourism in countries all the world, Australia is no excpetion.

For many years Australia’s tourism industry was a rapidly growing and represented an  important part of the national economy. It particularly benefited from a global surge in international  travel and the increased interst of Australians to explore their own country.

Covid-19 brought a sudden change to this strong economic growth, within months of the first reported cases, borders closed, airlines grounded passenger fleets, businesses went bankrupt and hotels went into hibernation. Demand reduced as travellers stopped and/or cancelled their travel plans.

At present the Tourism industry’s situation for international tourism is still quite severe, many australian markets are in recession and are gstruggling with having to deal with the pandemic. Australian borders are not expected to fully open until mid to late 2021, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) does not expect international travel to return to its previous levels before 2024.

However it is important to keep in mind that even if the Tourism/Hospitality situation seems kind of bleak at this moment, as more and more people get vaccinated the industry will inevitably return to its previous level.

What do Chinese Travelers Like about Australia?

Chinese travelers are attracted by Australia because of :

#1 Amazing flora and fauna endemic to Australia.

#2 Clear blue sky and clean air (that they can not have in their country).

#3 They like to having the same time zone as China & the general proximity to Asia.

#4 Fresh seafood : chinese tourists particularly enjoy seafood and fresh local products, such as australian wine.

#5 Relaxed lifestyle and wide natural outdoors.

#6 They appreciate Australians citizens, as they are friendly, easy-going, and warm.

#7 Diversity of landscape, desert, mountains…and of course the natural wonders that Australia has to offer, including the Pinnacles, Wave Rock, Ningaloo Reef, Uluru and so many more !

What do Chinese like in Australia?

The majority of Chinese tourists are interested in the history & culture of Australia, including “Indigenous”. Chinese travelers would like to be engaged in many different activities: Casinos, golf, cruise shipping, crabbing, sand-boarding, swimming with whale, sharks, and dolphins. They also appreciate watching a sunset on the Indian Ocean. Most Chinese love taking pictures of landscapes, or local people. They would like to show their experiences with their circle when they come back to their country.

When in Australia chinese tourists like to do a lot of shopping, they usually have done their research online for popular local products (lanolin cream, emu oil, fish oil, formula baby milk powder, UGG boots, abalone, and organic skin care products and vitamins)  to buy during their trip. For high-end Chinese travelers, they may spend time shopping for Argyle diamonds, pearls and gold. Chinese travelers normally purchase large quantities of products as gifts for their friends and family. Gambling is also an activity that chinese travelers like to partake in.

Always include shopping excursions and a brief stop to a local supermarket in the itineraries, even with a tight schedule.

Preparation

Chinese already know where they will go and what they will purchase before their trip. Most of them search online information in mandarin on Forums, local search Engine(Baidu), or social networks sites like Weibo. Even during their trip, they prefer not to modify the itinerary. Usually, they will enjoy free time for shopping

How to attract Chinese Tourists?

We are an online agency, and most of our customers are in the tourism industry.

A website in Chinese

According to the introduction from  C-trip(online leader for traveling), most Chinese make decisions depending on the information online (in Chinese). Please check these figures:

• Over 50% of the travelers from China will compare the information from 2 websites;
• 18% of them compare information from 3 websites;
• 9% of the tourists would even check 4 websites.

So a company without a website will probably be running behind the ones with web sites.

What’s also important is to show your website to a vast amount of Chinese tourists. The most popular solution is using SEO and SEM. A website without a visitor is not really useful. SEO, search engine optimization should be done on Baidu and other Chinese Search Engines like 360 or Sogou.

To attract visitors and potential customers we advise you to use our methodology. More information here

Social networks

Social Networking sites(SNS) has become an important social phenomenon in China, and a large part of the population use Weibo, to get more information about their destination. 70% of Chinese netizens have a Weibo (microblog: a mix between Facebook and Twitter). Open an account is the first step, but after this, managing the content, attracting visitors and animating the community is the more important for your online Marketing.

The benefits of promoting your services on social media are that you can :

• Reach your target precisely
• Build a community around your services/products and get feedback.
• Creating a more social company image, connected with locals customers;
• People are accepting information from SNS more easily

Example of a need to improve Weibo: STA Travel Australia with their Weibo

• 8000 fans, but 0 interactivity
• More of their post link to a website in English
• Design of the Account can be personalized

Example of an attractive Weibo: Mafengwo

• A huge number of fans, good interactivity
• Interaction with KOL (key opinion leaders)
• Gallery of Photos
• Mini traveling video

OUR CASE STUDY

My Next Memory

Memories Travel 

 

THE AGENCY

Do you need a partner for launching your traveling business in China? Contact us!

We help companies wishing to sell on the Chinese market. We are specialists in:

E-REPUTATION: Primordial before launching, we work together on your unique selling point, then on the social networks and with the help of PR, we make sure that your image on the networks is totally clean and reliable for the Chinese users.

SEO: Search Engine Optimization of your website will be essential, our team of specialists will take care of your e-reputation, the management of your social networks while setting up an SEO / SEM campaign allowing you to gain places in the ranking of the Baidu Chinese search engine.

LEAD GENERATION: Our teams are professionals in lead generation. To optimize it, your e-reputation must be irreproachable. Investing in online advertising and creating quality content will help you develop your e-reputation. Finally, the evaluation of the results will be important to guide us in the next stages of your development.

DIGITAL SOLUTIONS: Website creation, development and audit; social media marketing (including WeChat & Weibo); PR; monthly reports and analyzes by our team of experts.