Tips for building newer tourism markets

Markets such as China and India are hot topics of conversation in the tourism industry, but one expert says the label "emerging" is insulting.
Trevor Lee of Travconsult gave figures showing outbound Indian tourists increased from 3.7 million in 1997 to 9.8m in 2007.
"I would say they have emerged."
Operators going overseas with titles such as "sales manager for emerging markets" on their business cards are doing themselves no favours with the people they need to build relationships with.
"They are being insulted by this term and we should be talking about 'new mature markets' or similar."
Lee said the likes of China and India had been involved in trade for thousands of years before countries such as New Zealand and Australia were settled.
He and his wife and colleague, Lilly Choi-Lee, offered tips to media delegates at the 2011 Trenz tourism expo on winning and catering to the increasing volume of travellers coming out of Japan, India and China.
But Lee said there was a lot of competition to win the attention and tourism dollars of these markets. His key tip was to view visitors as more than just numbers, taking time to engage with them and find out what they want.
"If you understand them, you can look after them better and they're likely to spend more."
JAPAN
Lee urged operators to maintain relationships with Japanese contacts - especially now when the market is down after the recession and the Sendai disasters.
"Let them know you still want to do business when they're ready and, when things start coming back, they'll remember you were loyal to their business."
He said learning a few hospitality phrases in Japanese could open doors and communication channels by breaking through the natural shyness of the Japanese, who largely spoke good English.
Japanese also respond well to invitations - not just to events, but to come into your shop and look around or to try items on.
"Consumers there are used to being invited into shops and if you do this, they will spend more."
INDIA
Status is critical to Indian travellers and Lee said New Zealanders needed to respect that. The simplest example of this was making an effort to pronounce the person's name and use any titles such as doctor or colonel when addressing them.
"Most people don't even try to pronounce their names and in India a person's family name is very important. It's part of their status and respect in society."
He said these tourists did a lot of research before trips and would ask a lot of questions.
"Patience and time is needed to look after these travellers, but they ask questions because it helps them make decisions. The more answers you can give, the better the chance of getting the sale."
CHINA
Showing appropriate respect is also important to Chinese tourists and they will be very loyal to places that treat them like VIPs.
Choi-Lee said her family had been going to the same restaurant for 30 years.
"The food isn't that great, but my dad loves it because the owner gives him priority, always offers a small discount, and his friends are there to see this happen."
Building a relationship was important to working with Chinese. They had an inner circle of people they looked out for - in business and in their personal lives - and getting into that inner circle was key to engaging with them.
"Have you been out for a meal with them? Do you know what they like to drink or what sport they play? Get to know them."