Tanzania’s ambassador to China is working closely with East African tour operators on a strong digital marketing strategy targeted at drawing increased Chinese visitor numbers to the East African country.

Mbelwa Kairuki recently met with members of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators (TATO) to brief them on the strategy and advise on how Tanzanian tourism suppliers could adjust their offerings to appeal to the Chinese market.

“Our ambassador’s strategy will address the issues we’ve had in the past with the Chinese market in terms of communication and payment method,” said CEO of TATO, Sirili Akko.

He told Tourism Update that some of the key elements of the digital strategy included the creation of an online booking and reservations platform that uses 5G technology, as well as working closely with Chinese social media platforms to market the destination.

WeChat, Weibo and QQ are big social media platforms in China, and Tanzania tourism companies are expected to have WeChat QR codes on the website to market themselves. “The cost for tourism investors to pay for the platform is very affordable,” said Akko, highlighting that TATO would be participating in the three-day China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market in April,

The Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange has reported that US$127.5 billion was spent by Chinese tourist overseas in the first half of 2019.