Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 3557 |
| Work Detail | Next Year One in Five International Visitors Flying Into Christchurch Will be Chinese A kayak guide leading a tour in the pristine waters off the Abel Tasman National Park is faced with three brawny Aussie blokes and two young petite urban Chinese women. The former are super confident and completely at home on the sea. The latter can't swim, have never been in a kayak before and are mildly terrified. Darryl Wilson, chief executive of tour company Wilsons Abel Tasman, describes the above scenario as a nightmare for guides trying to meet the expectations of very different customers. Tackling the Chinese market has forced his company to rethink its tours, introducing a two hour package for absolute beginners that gives them just 35 minutes on the water if that's all they can handle. His confidence in preparing to grow what has been until now a very small segment of his target market is in large part due to assistance from Christchurch Airport's $100,000 New Horizons Fund. Wilsons Abel Tasman, the Hanmer Springs China Cluster, Marlborough Tour Company and Ultimate Wanaka each received $25,000 worth of mentoring and support, including a week in China meeting key travel trade contacts. Justin Watson, the airport company's chief commercial officer aeronautical, says the aim was two fold – spread the rapidly increasing number of Chinese visitors around the South Island, and ensure there are suitable tourism activities available for them. That means taking into account the fact that Chinese arrivals into Christchurch tend to be younger, female, independent travellers. OVERCOMING CHINESE FEARS Like the other New Horizons recipients, Darryl Wilson was hesitant about tackling China. "I'd dabble in the Chinese market, but I didn't want to go in there all guns blazing and have a mismatch between promise and delivery." Getting the "product" right meant required understanding of some very real cultural differences. "There's resistance to water-based activities. It's beyond their cultural norms and experiences. They inherently have a suspicion of the sea and drowning, there's a major fear factor around the sea so we've got to get over that obstacle," says Wilson. Good communication is a big safety issue out on the water, and finding qualified Chinese-speaking kayak guides wasn't easy but Wilson has managed to recruit four of them ready for next season. "It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Do you take on staff that can communicate well? Or do you wait until the people come to justify the staff? We decided to err on the side of caution and responsibility and bring on the staff and develop the product." SPEAKING MANDARIN Language was also a hurdle the Hanmer Springs China Cluster of 11 businesses has handled very successfully, and by Christmas all the members will have Mandarin pages on their business websites. The thermal pools balance sheet speaks volumes for the positive impact of Asian visitors on the alpine resort. In 2014 Asians contributed $150,000 to the thermal pools complex and last year's 40,000 Asian customers were worth close to $600,000. Initially though, there was some resistance to attempts to actively pursue the Chinese market according to Graeme Abbot, general manager of the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa. Local motels found Chinese guests more difficult to deal with because they smoked in their rooms, put dishes away wet in the cupboards, and disposed of toilet paper in rubbish bins rather than flushing it away. An etiquette sheet in translated into Mandarin quickly transformed the experience for both moteliers and guests, Abbot said. "The tension that was there has gone from the very simple process of communicating the rules in their language." THE CULTURAL LEARNING CURVE Cultural education is a key part of the "China Ready" seminars attended by thousands of South island tourism operators as part of a marketing push supported by Christchurch Airport and 13 regional tourism organisations. The sessions were so popular they are now available online. China Ready programme director Amy Adams says a little understanding goes a lot way in making travel more enjoyable for Chinese visitors, rather than regarding them as a "pain" because they are so different to traditional British, American or Australian holiday makers. "When you have that mindset, and they come in, you're not going to be very welcoming, and perhaps that may come across no matter how professional you're trying to be. You need to understand why they do things differently, rather than automatically judge what they do as wrong." Adams explains that the wet dishes practice which so infuriates motel owners is because high pollution levels in China mean it is customary to assume dishes in a cupboard are dirty, and to rinse them before use. Providing hot porridge for breakfast, rather than cold milk and cereal is another tip for accommodation providers. "[The Chinese] regard cold food as a snack, they want hot food at meals. They will eat sandwiches but it doesn't strike them as a proper meal." GROWING PAINS The vast majority of New Zealand's 20,000-plus tourism businesses are run by owner operators. Ridgeline Adventures, Wanaka River Journeys, Aspiring Helicopters and Eco Wanaka Adventures are in that category and with assistance from the New Horizons Fund they have joined forces to market themselves as Ultimate Wanaka. Ridgeline Adventures owner Mark Orbell says seemingly small changes can be crucial. For example, they reduced the cut off time for cancellation fees from 30 days to 48 hours to accommodate the length of time it takes Chinese to get travel visas, and their tendency to book at short notice. "If you have a cancellation policy that's 30 days out, they don't even know if they are coming yet because their lead in time is really short. It's something that's really simple to do, but it could be a deal breaker." Orbell is now pondering how to grow his businesses without losing the intimacy of the experience which the Chinese like so much. "They're not just here for the photos, they want to talk to the drivers and hear their stories. It's not just, take them to a beautiful place, take the photo, and go. Orbell recently hired an administration person to handle bookings and driver rosters so he can focus on marketing. "We're Mum and Dad operations, that's not taking anything away from our professionalism, but we come in from driving boats and trucks, hop on the computer and answer emails. "Do we stay small so we can keep control over our product? We are very much value over volume, so it's a big challenge." Wilson is thinking ahead too, and while he is excited about the potential of the Chinese market, he is cautious about becoming too reliant on it. Germans were a big chunk of his annual turn over. When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, they stopped travelling and visitor numbers plummeted, and since then Wilson has attempted to keep a balanced mix of visitors. He's also looking at putting some of his New Horizons grant into helping local restaurants provide photographic Mandarin menus and in getting the Motueka business community behind his push into China. "If the community is not with you, the experience [for visitors] is not as good." |
| Country | China , Eastern Asia |
| Industry | Travel & Tourism |
| Entry Date | 03 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://ssl-www.stuff.co.nz/business/83616713/Mentoring-magic-for-southern-tour-operators-opens-doors-in-China |
