The number of foreign tourists coming to China is much larger than that of domestic tourists travelling abroad. This result is an affiliate campaign and consensus devoted to the development of tourism of the authority and the people of China.
Joining hands for tourism development
Any public tourism product introduced to partners and customers by China needs the collective efforts of the state management agencies, tour agencies, hotels, restaurants, and in particular the team working in the areas of art, culture, staging, directing, etc. In a programme to welcome large tour operators from its target markets, recently, Zhejiang province held a famtrip for over 100 major foreign travel companies and journalists to visit and learn, so that they can express their opinions and demands about tours and services. Also, they had direct exchange of opinions with authorised people who are critical of the policy on local tours. Tourism leading boards of the province are always willing to welcome and pledge with foreign tour companies to create the best tourism products, changing flexibly to suit the needs of each market at the request of the tourism companies. All information on destinations, services, restaurants and hotels is fully prepared in terms of images, costs and promotions, to provide tourism agencies and companies. In particular, local people are well trained in media, equipped with knowledge, skills and arts of welcoming tourists and willing to participate in large campaigns of the country, provinces and localities initiative with all their heart, which is expressed through very specific activities like taking part in welcome, performing arts, community activities, and even guidance for visitors. It can be seen that the consistent and strong direction of local authorities and the devotion of businesses and people in a large campaign is the determination to bring Zhejiang tourism to international friends. Tourism is considered a key economic product bringing prosperity for the province as well as for the people, where people play a decisive role.
The Chinese understand that tourism can generate a lot of money, thus they always show consensus and consistency in creating the best conditions for partners of different markets to attract tourists to China. Therefore, many Chinese provinces are willing to discount tours to the lowest possible level in order to attract tourists to China, thereby promoting the development of trade and production. Many localities, under smooth directing, produce only small parts of a product or carry out only one process which is significant enough for any tourist, when mentioning that locality, to know what to buy. For different markets, China has different strategies, objectives and tours. For example, tourists from Russia, the US, Japan and Korea who like adventure tours will be taken to wild places. For Vietnamese tourists, most of the tours lead to shopping centres for gems, leather goods and clothing. In fact, this has proven its business effectiveness.
Mr Tu Tien, Chief of the Representative Office in Vietnam of Beijing Cosmos Travel said that for many years, the local leaders have assessed the development of the provinces according to GDP. However, they now realize the social ties behind that such as environment pollution and destruction have become factors obstructing development. Therefore, they consider travel the most sustainable and effective development channel. Provincial leaders are committed to supporting foreign companies having strong potential to attract more tourists to China. At a meeting with 100 travel agents and journalists in Zhejiang in October 2013, General Director of the leading travel company of CTS in Hangzhou, China, Ms Liu Ying shared that Zhejiang would assist foreign companies with advertising expenditure for Chinese destinations if they meet qualifications and funds. The strong backup and good commitment of the provincial tourism leaders to foreign enterprises ensures they will attract tourists to China, making the number of foreign tourists to China grow even more strongly.
Blowing spirit into products
China is well known for diverse products and continuous search, surveys, innovation and creation of tourism products. However, the success in attracting foreign tourists lies in the fact that the Chinese cleverly blow soul into tourism products, creating profound national beauty and meaning and making an impression for tourists, making them want to go back to those tourism destinations over and over again. It is easy to notice that although China’s scenic spots are not outstanding compared to those of Vietnam, Korea, or Thailand, they are attractive in the bold Chinese culture and soul of all places and products, interpreted by tour guides who have been carefully trained and selected. Destinations and products are cleverly associated with Chinese legends, history, thrilling fables and stories, living messages, or even sacred areas which are reproduced through spectacular and impressive shows with presentation, light, sound and photography by talented directors of China. For example, when coming to Hangzhou, visitors will think of its significant product such as Hangzhou silk or Longjing tea. Silk is available in many areas with their own weaving secrets. However, the Hangzhou silk became a famous brand of China because it is woven in a unique way, shown through large show with many audiences like Tong Thanh. Longjing tea is not more special than Vietnam’s Thai Nguyen tea, but it is known and sold at very high prices dozens of times higher than Vietnamese tea because Chinese also sell their art of drinking tea. In particular, when Longjing tea is mixed with water, young tea buds will bloom and people not only drink tea but also eat tea, sipping bittersweetness in their tongue. Also, visitors coming to Beijing usually buy lucky candy as legend tells that whoever eats this lucky candy will get lucky because of the red cover of the candy. Coming to famous tourist cities of China, visitors can enjoy the show recreating history, culture and stories associated with specific products of each region which inspire tourists.
Through surveys, foreign enterprises generally prefer making tours to China rather than other markets because of relatively cheap tour price and good endorsements of their Chinese counterparts. It is estimated that each year China receives about 79 percent of the total number of inbound visitors for tourism purposes alone. Particularly in Vietnam market, representative of the largest travel company of Beijing in Vietnam said that the recent situation of Vietnam’s tourism to China is not very good. However, positive changes have taken place after the visit of the two leaders in the past time.
Thu Huyen
Đăng ký: VietNam News
