More than 250 tourism businesses attending the Visit York Tourism Insights conference on Thursday (December 4) were told to get “China ready”.
York has its sights firmly set on Chinese visitors planning their travel itineraries for 2015 and beyond, says head of Visit York Kate McMullen.
– Kate McMullen
The keynote speaker at the conference, held at York Racecourse, is Professor Dr Wolfgang Arlt. An expert on inbound tourism from China, he explained how businesses can begin to adapt and get ready to tap into this fast growing tourism market.
York’s Chinese push
With China estimated to be York’s 10th largest overseas tourism market – up from 19th place 10 years ago, Visit York has also produced a suite of visitor information in simplified Mandarin.
Other key activity announced at the conference includes:
30,000 York Visitor Guides for Chinese visitors distributed via five major airlines, at London Heathrow, Stansted and Manchester, and hotels in London, Manchester, Leeds and York
A new Shop & The City itinerary developed, which presents a five-star, three-day stay in York taking in shopping on Shambles, top attractions, afternoon tea and fine dining
A new promotional video in Chinese going live this week which has already achieved more than 250,000 views
A dedicated Visit York webpage added to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute website
Visit York marketing manager Michelle Brown has recently returned from a tourism trade mission to sell York face to face to more than 90 influential Chinese tour operators.
Kate said: “We’re working full steam ahead to target both the travel trade and consumers in the Chinese market.
“At the same time it’s crucial that we continue to attract and look after our visitors from closer to home; our success will depend on meeting the needs of our customers today as well as planning ahead for the emerging markets of the future.”