Tips for your 2017 China marketing plan- episode 75

Tourism Upgrade with HollyG

2017 China tourism marketing

A huge thanks and welcome back to George Cao, Co-founder and CEO of Dragon Trail Interactive based in Beijing, China. Dragon Trail Interactive is a travel focused digital marketing agency helping clients reach and engage with affluent Chinese consumers online. In this episode, George runs us through where the opportunities are for 2017 China tourism marketing, while bringing us up to speed on the past year.

I also chatted to George in Episode 50 of Tourism Tweetup the Podcast and that episode is one of the most popular episodes to date. Much of what we discussed then is still relevant and useful so please after you have listened to this episode, have a listen to episode 50 too.

In this episode we discuss

• What was some of the big changes that happened in the China travel market in 2016?
• New player to keep your eye on from a China social media perspective.
• What marketing tactics are being employed by other destinations marketing into China
• Will the appointment of Trump impact visitation to the US from China?
• With such an increase in destination competition, how is the traveller choosing where to go?
• Looking forward to 2017, what will you be spending your time doing, and what are things that people should be giving their energy to when it comes to marketing into China?

“…for 2017, our advice to our clients and our friends is to focus attention on partnership management, look for new partners, train them, empower them, leverage their networks, and monitor how they do. I think partner relationships and partner joint marketing efforts will pay off more probably in the next few years than they have been. So we would suggest keep an eye on partnership marketing for 2017.”

“I think, at least for 2017, I think we need to prepare ourselves, especially some of the short haul destinations, for relatively flat growth, single-digit growth, and try to find ways of creating interesting, inspirational content for people to start thinking about their destinations again. But for long haul and emerging markets, I think the opportunity is here, for you to really get into the market and start providing that alternative experience people are looking for. When they don’t go to the more familiar places, they will be looking for something different. I think South America, come on to China and do a heavy push. Emerging markets, come over, and this is your time.”

I also ask George the $1000 bonus question and this is if you only had a $1000 marketing budget what would you spent it on. He gives a great answer, you’ll have to listen in for that one!

HollyG: How’s the best way for people to connect with you, George, and Dragon Trail?

George: I think my email address is public. It’s [e-mail]. Our website is at DragonTrail.com. It’s very easy for people to find us online. We also have a WeChat account. For people who do have WeChat, you can look us up on WeChat. The ID is DragonTrail, all in one word.

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Tweet me with any comments or feedback @hollygalbraith or email is good too holly (at) hollyg.com.au

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