Great Ocean Road tourism operators graduate from inaugural ‘China Host’ program
The representatives from Great Ocean Road accommodation, hospitality and tour service providers graduated from the inaugural Great Ocean Road regional ‘China Host’ program, in Port Fairy on Wednesday, 20 March. This followed a six-month journey in which they deepened their understanding of the key market drivers, communication channels and cultural expectations necessary to ensure international visitors to the region have the best possible experience.
Delivered by Asialink Business’ China Practice, in partnership with the Warrnambool City Council, the Australian Tourism Export Council and other industry leading organisations, the initiative was designed to challenge, prepare and build diverse skills, the program was the first of its kind in Australia.
Warrnambool and the Great Ocean Road have experienced a significant increase in the number of Chinese tourists over the past five years.
Warrnambool City Council Manager Economic Development and Investment Shaun Miller said:
“With tourism one of the most important industries across the region, it’s vitally important that we do everything we can to ensure international visitors have the best possible experience.
He said any business that had the capacity to cater for Chinese tourists and was dedicated to becoming an industry leader was encouraged to apply.
"This program is fantastic because we talk about cultural considerations, how to engage in a marketing context, we talk about payments and importantly we talk about how we engage the trade in China and Australia, so it's a really complete program." - Peter Shelley, Australian Tourism Export Council
"For us it's how do we get into the market on a scale that is manageable, and we think we have found that through the method of social media, through methods of payment and through the contacts that we have made on the program." - Mark Gervis, Southern Ocean Mariculture
The highly practical program guided participating local businesses through a series of workshops and practical exercises and checklists to ensure they are well prepared to host Chinese visitors.
Asialink Business China Practice Director, Nick Henderson said: “Together with Warranambool City Council, ATEC, and our other industry partners, we are delighted by the impact China Host is making.
“It has been a privilege to join the program’s committed and passionate participants on their learning journey: Together we have explored and mapped the changing tourist demographics and Chinese cultural expectations around being a good host, as well as how to navigate the Chinese digital marketing landscape and how to market and sell to the Chinese tourism wholesale trade.
“We hope this will serve as a model for other local business communities that want to be leaders in providing quality tourism experiences.”
Program Recap Below:
Module 4 – Port Fairy and Warrnambool, March 2019
Focussing on practical overview of the travel distribution landscape, the fourth and finale module took place in Port Fairy and Warrnambool in March. Participants were introduced to a range of online travel platforms before exploring Ctrip as a case study and fine-tuning their pitch through a series of interactive workshops. The module concluded with a livestream with retail travel agents from Shanghai providing an overview of travel trade events and a workshop on successfully running business appointments. The Program concluded with an award ceremony and a closing dinner.
Module 3 – Port Campbell, February 2019
The third module was held in February 2019 in Port Campbell, and provided a deep-dive into China's social media and digital landscape, including how digital platforms are used by Chinese travellers and how to engage with them throughout the travel journey. As a part of the one-day workshop, participants heard from Saxon Booth 萨克森 and Andy Jiang and engaged in an interactive payment masterclass and WeChat workshop. The module also provided participants with the opportunity to develop tailored digital marketing and payment action plans for Chinese travellers, and to meet service provider representatives from UnionPay International, epay, Xiamen Airlines and The Gaibo Agency through an Expo format.
Module 2 - Sovereign Hill, November 2018
For their second module, participants headed to Sovereign Hill near Ballarat, for a comprehensive overview on ‘customising services and offerings.’ This highly interactive module, led by Nick Henderson, provided participating businesses with the opportunity to gain first-hand insights from a leading regional attraction that has tailored an excellent experience for Chinese travellers. Sovereign Hill has engaged with the China market for over 20 years and employs Chinese-speaking guides, allows for translation via their website, has established offices in China and creatively promotes the regions Chinese history to connect with Chinese travellers.
As a part of the one-day workshop, participants heard from Garry Burns, Jessica Xue and Edea Lu and were guided through a personalised analysis of their own businesses. Participants discussed their value propositions, communication tools and how they can implement their findings to customise their products and services for Chinese inbound travellers through a collaborative pitching exercise.
Module 1 – Warrnambool, October 2018
The Program commenced with an introductory module in October 2018, on the Chinese tourism opportunity, including customer service expectations. Participants formed close bonds as they worked together to map the Chinese travel landscape.
Congratulations to all participants and partners!
It has been an exciting six months of collaboration across the Great Ocean Road Region and we would like to thank our partners Warrnambool City Council, the Australian Tourism Export Council, local councils across the Great Ocean Road Region, Dragon Trail Interactive and other participating industry leading organisations.
The China Host program has empowered the local region and tourism providers to capture the growth potential and spend potential of the China visitor market. Local businesses have gained the knowledge and skills needed to deliver superior visitor experiences and the Great Ocean Road Region will build a stronger visitor economy as a result.
If you are interested in finding out how your local council can be involved with the program in the future, please contact us today!
For more information about our China Practice here
Further resources
In 2018 Chinese tourists to Australia overtook New Zealand as Australia's largest outbound tourist market.
In this episode of the Australia China Business Council's 'China Path' Podcast, our China Practice Director, Nick Henderson, discusses how Australian businesses are tailoring their tourism offerings to meet the demands of this fast growing market. Nick explores why Chinese holiday makers are deciding to travel overseas, how they plan their holiday and how tourism operators can use digital platforms to connect with potential customers as well as highlighting examples from the China Host program.