The Chinese tourism market is growing and changing and Rotorua operators got an insight into the challenges this presents at an Asian market forum this week.
Destination Marketing Rotorua hosted the event with speakers Malcolm Johns - chief executive of the Inter City Group (pictured), David Sakey - insights manager at Tourism New Zealand and its own Asian market executive Shelley Huang.
Johns shared his experience in the China market, saying Kiwis had a competitive advantage in dealing with China.
He categorised cultures as being defuse or specific, with defuse cultures, such as the Chinese, bringing a personal and private element to business relationships, while specific cultures, such as the Europeans, form exclusively business- focused relationships.
In specific cultures, people can have a significant, long-term business relationships, but not know each other's partners names, whether they have children or what they do in their leisure time.
"But with defuse cultures, you need to exchange part of your private life - that's really critical."
Johns said many Pacific cultures were defuse, giving these people and those who interacted with them regularly an advantage in capturing lucrative Asian markets, such as China.
Larger companies often employ a Chinese person to represent them in China and to act as a buffer between these two different approaches, but Johns said these employees needed the support of the whole company.
"If you want to succeed in China, don't just go to China, bring China into your organisation."
Huang outlined how expectations of Chinese visitors differed from guests from traditional markets such as Australia, the United States and Europe.
"There is no western [free and independent travel] concept in China."
But she said there was a growing semi-FIT market that would increase considerably in the next two to five years and Rotorua operators needed to gain a good understanding of what this market expected from a holiday to maintain their share of the market.
Rotorua's tourism strategy identifies China as a key target market and Huang said the city currently saw 70 per cent of Chinese visitors coming to New Zealand. At this stage, 90 per cent of those are in tour groups, which is a high volume/ low value market.
The new FIT travellers are becoming more focused on experiencing a destination than on sightseeing and shopping and Huang said there was a desire for authentic experiences and high levels of service and invited the audience to look at what they had to offer from the perspective of Chinese visitors.
"They think New Zealand is very pretty, not crowded and natural. We take these things for granted because we live here and see it every day and don't realise what is special for Asians."
Building stronger alliances with organisations such as airlines, VIP clubs, real estate agents and banks, which deal with people from the target market, is something she would like to see the destination do.
"This will provide us with new ways to reach [travellers]."
Food and beverage and accommodation are areas where satisfaction levels tend to be lower and she said simple things - such as supplying instant noodles and the equipment to cook them and easy internet access - could make all the difference.