ITB China 2019 off to a fabulous start
- Av Unimedia AS
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- 16 mai, 2019
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" An impressive list of dignitaries including senior executives from Ctrip, Wyndham Hotel Group and Air China graced the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the three-day event in Shanghai on Wednesday. "
ITB China 2019 was off to a fabulous start as the cream of the global and Chinese travel industry, including Jane Sun, CEO of online travel group Ctrip, James Liang, Co-Founder and Executive Board Chairman, Ctrip, and Leo Liu, President of Greater China, Wyndham Hotel Group, graced the opening ceremony of the premier Chinese travel trade event in Shanghai on Wednesday.
Other dignitaries who featured in the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the largest Chinese B2B travel trade show, being held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre, included - H.E. Sen. Gian Marco Centinaio (Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food, Forestry Policies and Tourism), Xiong Jia (General Manager of Eastern China, Air China), Cang Ding Yu (Chairman, Shanghai JinJiang Travel Holding Co., Ltd.), Dongjie Guo (President, HCG Travel Group), Wu Xiaomei (Deputy Secretary General of China Tourism Association, CTA) and Dr. Martin Buck (Senior Vice President, Travel & Logistics of Messe Berlin).
This ceremony was followed by the official opening guided tour of the exhibitors' arena. It commenced with the stand of the current partner destination, Italy.
Post the opening ceremony, Ctrip's Liang kicked off the three-day ITB China Conference, which runs in conjunction with the trade event. Liang highlighted the vast gap between outbound travel from China and the inbound segment, and emphasized that it is time China tackled painpoints to elevate the positioning of the country as a tourism destination for foreign visitors.
One of the goals of China, as a nation, should be to make people around the world dream about travelling to China, mentioned Liang.
"Some of the painpoints are new and some are old, but these need to be eradicated. Other countries benefit from inbound tourism, especially with growing pie of outbound travellers from China and it boosts their economic growth," said Liang, who added that China, too, has the potential to gain from inbound tourism. But for this, there is a need to overcome certain challenges, including ones related to letting foreign visitors enjoy their trip freely.
If ones assesses how foreign travellers generally pay for buying products or services in China, they tend to struggle with their chosen methods. Liang acknowledged the same and said, "China has moved towards being a cashless society, but international travellers find it to be a hurdle (when they try to pay via cash or cards, they are being refused at certain places or even if they wish to buy the Chinese currency, they can't find options to exchange and buy Chinese currency easily)."
"Other painpoints that foreign travellers face include access to the Internet, especially their preferred sites/ apps - could be Facebook, Google, etc (this means foreign travellers can't share their travel experiences when they are enjoying in China). Also, the issue of inconvenience around obtaining visa to visit China needs to be sorted," explained Liang.
As for the outbound travel segment, Chinese travellers are evolving, and certain aspects that need to be addressed, as explained by Charlie Li, CEO, TravelDaily China during his presentation, are:
• Experience matters - mundane trips not appreciated anymore
• Inform travellers and prepare them in advance - For instance, enthusiasts of basketball visiting the U. S. can understand the NBA schedule, how to buy tickets, what to expect at the venue etc. in advance and this way explore locations better.
• Longer stays/ long-haul destinations
• Digital transactions
• Fine dining
• Family and friends play a vital role
Tourism boards and destination marketing specialists are digging deeper to understand what a traveller from China is looking for and reaping results of the same.
For instance, Los Angeles attracted 1.2 million visitors from China last year. The figure is an all-time, making Los Angeles the number one ranked U.S. city for Chinese travellers (6.9 percent increase, the largest net gain among all international markets).
In addition to multiple conference sessions about destination travel and theme travel on Day 1, the day was also marked by a number of other events, including ITB China-hosted Customer Travel Networking Event as the Travel Technology Networking Event.
Ctrip announced a share exchange transaction with Naspers Limited, an early investor in Tencent, pursuant to which Naspers will exchange its stake in India's largest OTA MakeMyTrip for newly issued shares in Ctrip.
Concurrent with the share exchange, Ctrip will invest certain ordinary shares and class B shares of MakeMyTrip in a third-party investment entity. Post the transaction, Naspers will own approximately 5.6% of Ctrip's outstanding ordinary shares, and Ctrip and the third-party investment entity will own ordinary shares and class B shares of MakeMyTrip, representing approximately 49.0% and 4.0% of MakeMyTrip's total voting power, respectively.
"Over the past years we have witnessed the great achievements of MakeMyTrip, and we are confident that MakeMyTrip will extend its success in the future," said James Liang, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ctrip.
"We are also delighted to welcome Naspers to become our shareholder. Ctrip will continue to work hard to create greater value to our customers, our partners and all shareholders," Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip commented.
Deep Kalra, Chairman and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip, said: "We are grateful for the unstinting support Naspers has provided us over the last couple of years. We have worked with Ctrip in the past years and are excited to take this partnership to the next level. We will leverage this investment to benefit from the tremendous growth potential in travel and tourism between our two countries."
"The agreement we have announced today is a significant step in the growth ambitions of both MakeMyTrip and Ctrip and we believe continuing to support them as a shareholder will create additional value for Naspers and our shareholders," said Bob van Dijk, Naspers CEO.
The transaction is expected to close as soon as practicable in the second half of 2019 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the requisite regulatory approvals.
Source:
https://www.chinatravelnews.com/article/128857
Just before Easter, Unimedia As signed a contract with Kathyda AS as an agent for Digital Marketing, Social Media and Software Development. Kathyda As has offices in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar where they invest in real estate projects, shopping centers and hotels. With the new agreement, Kathyda AS can use Unimedia's services to develop and attract new customers to its clients across borders.
The agreement is implemented with a new model, integrating technology from the West towards emerging markets in the APEC region to develop new and innovative digital infrastructure. The form of collaboration is unique in international digital marketing.
Kathyda As has invested activities such as swimming beaches, BBQ, restaurants, fishing trips with local guides, car, boat, canoes and scooter rental, as well as many 4-5 star hotels.
Unimedia scored best on all evaluation criteria, ie experience, technology and price, and therefore the choice fell on Unimedia. We look forward to starting and looking forward to a brilliant partnership, "says Kathy Dang, Marketing Director at Kathyda As.
Bedre teknologi og mer tilpasset markedsføring.
The project starts in the summer of 2019 and ends at the summer of 2020 before the new possible contract is signed. The contract has a cost limit of approximately NOK 2.5 million ex. VAT. and the project's total cost is approximately NOK 5 million incl. The objective of the project is to increase traffic and exploit the potential of the untouched markets in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Dubai Airport Retail Group and Ctrip.com officially reached an agreement to give Chinese tourists a better travel experience.
Dubai Duty Free and Ctrip, China's largest online travel agency, signed a new cooperation agreement that will provide many benefits to Chinese travelers.
The signature signed in Shanghai Dubai Week reflects the significance of this Chinese group of Chinese tourists who fall into the tax-free group operating at Dubai International Airport. Chinese passengers account for 4% of Dubai International Airport passenger traffic, but their consumption accounts for 12% of Dubai Airport duty free sales.
According to 2015 data, this means that Chinese tourists give $ 100 million in credit to Dubai Airport Duty Free.
In the first collaborative process, Ctrip members (currently 141 million people) flying to Dubai International Airport will receive a 7% discount when shopping at the Dubai Airport Duty Free Shop from 1 January to 30 June 2017.
Dubai airport duty-free shops, executive vice president and CEO Colm said: "The road to Dubai International Airport and the number of Chinese tourists at the airport duty-free shopping has significant growth in the near future and we think cooperation with Ctrip can let us interact with tourists before flying to Dubai, and when guests take a purchase decision at Dubai Airport Duty Free, they have taken a look at the shopping information. "Although the signing of the agreement, Dubai airport duty-free shops online area will also debut the Chinese version, to facilitate Chinese tourists to learn about our rich online shopping is preferable."
Dubai Airport Duty Free currently has 591 Chinese employees, representing 10% of all employees.
Salam Torak, Senior Vice President, Advanced Communications, Duty Free Shop, Dubai Airport, explains how duty-free shops feel at home with Chinese passengers.
Source: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/23348391
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