The time to sell South Africa as a tourism destination in China is now The awareness around SA would be especially high following Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signing of trade agreements worth R94bn with SA, generating positive coverage about the country among Chinese consumers, said Bradley Brouwer, President: Asia Pacific, SA Tourism, at a trade seminar on Asian markets.
China holds huge luxury market potential, with 7 500 billionaires and the proportion of high-end consumption groups among its outbound tourists having risen sharply. When choosing a destination, they consider brand reputation, location, transportation, service, star rating, views, room size, facilities, catering and price. “The Chinese are big spenders; they prefer original luxury articles and have the money to pay for them,” said Brouwer.
Brouwer ascribed the Chinese outbound tourism market’s fast development to its currency’s continuous appreciation, the stable and continuous increase of Chinese people’s income and a favourable political environment for travel. In 2014, 107m Chinese tourists undertook outbound trips – a 9% rise from the previous year.
The stipulation that tourists from countries that require visas for SA would no longer need to carry children’s unabridged birth certificates would also increase Chinese travel to SA, said Brouwer, adding that the certificate would be submitted during the visa application.
“We need to make it easy for Chinese to come to SA. They have so much choice – in terms of destinations and prices – and many other destinations offer more flexible visa policies.” Brouwer said the visa regulations had created an unfavourable, unfriendly perception of SA to Asian consumers and trade – also in Japan where people are extremely private and don’t like to relinquish personal information. “The launch of two additional visa centres in Chengdu and Guangzhou will help improve arrivals from China, but it’s still not enough. We have four visa facilitation centres in China, but need at least another seven to cover the country adequately.” He urged the trade to reflect the latest visa information on their websites.
Seventy percent of Chinese tourists gather their information from the Internet (including online travel articles and communities) and plan their itineraries before they travel, while three-quarters choose travel operators. Spending their money largely on transportation and shopping, they set aside summer (July and August) and public holidays for long-haul travel. Fifty-five percent travel between four and seven days, and 35.7% between eight and 14 days.
