Chinese New Year a popular travel time

Don't be surprised to see more Chinese tourists than usual in the next couple of weeks. It's Chinese New Year, which is becoming an increasingly popular time to travel.

Chinese New Year was on Monday and Destination Rotorua Marketing Asian market executive Shelley Huang told The Daily Post most Chinese had seven days' holidays during the New Year period, so it was a good opportunity to add on some annual leave and travel overseas.

"People would traditionally spend New Year with family, but the customs have changed in the last 10 years. An increasing number of people are choosing to go overseas to celebrate."

But Huang said Rotorua, as a destination, needed to better understand what Asian visitors generally, and Chinese visitors in particular, are looking for to successfully market itself in that region.

Destination Rotorua Marketing is hosting the first of a series of forums on the Asian markets on Tuesday and she at which she will outline the tourism organisation's strategy for the Chinese market - including a campaign selling Rotorua to the 200,000-plus Chinese living in New Zealand - particularly Auckland.

Huang said this was a good place to start as the domestic Chinese market was a gateway to the "visiting friends and relatives" market from mainland China, with local friends and family acting as ambassadors and translators.

"They all have friends and relatives in China. If we can satisfy them, that 200,000 will grow by two, three or four times.

"We want them to think of Rotorua as the 'must do' destination for all their visitors."

But there is more to capturing this market than simply promoting what Rotorua has to offer and Huang said part of the campaign involved getting New Zealand Chinese to set their own itineraries to gain a better understanding of what types of attractions and activities that sector is looking for.

"It's time to get to know what Asians like, as well as focus on what Rotorua has to offer."

With a greater understanding of the market, Huang said Rotorua could better tailor its marketing efforts and individual operators could make relatively minor adjustments to cater for the growing Asian tourism market.

"At the forum I will be talking about four or five categories of potential visitor and how we can adjust ourselves to fit into preferred Asian habits, activities and experiences.

"It's not about the industry changing totally - that's not realistic. I'm talking about small adjustments that make Chinese and other Asian tourists feel welcome and comfortable to attract more quality Chinese tourists to our region."

Huang, originally from Nanjing, China, has been in her current role since September and comes from a media background. Her move into tourism was driven by her experience working for New Zealand Trade and Enterprise at the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

"I enjoyed working in the media, but wanted a career that fitted better with who I am and allowed me to connect where I live now with where I am from."

She also liaised with Chinese families who lost family members in the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake before taking up her role in Rotorua.

Huang will be speaking at the Destination Rotorua Marketing Asian market forum on Tuesday with Tourism New Zealand i-Sites manager David Sakey and InterCity Group chief executive Malcolm Johns.