Welcome your Chinese visitors to the Year of the Tiger
Chinese New Year officially started on February 14, this year, bringing in the Year of the Tiger, or as it is formally known, “Geng Yin”. And many Chinese have made the big decision to spend this important festive period, away from their homeland, visiting other countries and regions for the first time.
Their decision to travel overseas would not have been made lightly nor quickly as this occasion is highly regarded and celebrated as an important family affair and a time of thanksgiving.
This being the case, it would be interesting to note some of the preparation destinations around the world have undertaken to welcome their Chinese visitors for this festive season.
Countries like America and Canada, which have only recently been granted approved destination status from the Chinese Government, will be doing everything possible to win the hearts and minds of their Chinese visitors, in order to see them depart with positive favourable images and experiences and a strong desire to return again.
Los Angeles in particular will be a favourite for Chinese visitors as it has been publicly celebrating Chinese New Year for more than 100 years and its “Golden Dragon Parade†has truly become a traditional and popular event.
Paris once again is expecting millions of people to take to the streets to enjoy and take part in the Chinese New Year celebrations and parades, while mingling with the thousands of Chinese visitors planning to celebrate there. With a recent report released from Global Refund stating that Chinese visitors are now the highest spending tourists in France, it would make strong sense for business owners in Paris to put on their friendliest of faces to welcome these newly-announced high value customers.
Here in Australia, the beautiful city of Cairns is expecting at least 14,000 Chinese visitors over this Lunar New Year period.
Last week, we had the exciting opportunity of working with 13 leading tourism suppliers in Cairns who participated in our Chinese Culture and Customer Service Workshop, held at the Hilton Cairns.
These suppliers sent key team members who were serious about learning everything they could that would help them better understand and better look after their Chinese visitors. Organizations represented included Cafe China, Pullman Reef Hotel Casino, Hilton Cairns, Quicksilver Group of Companies, Big Cat Green Island Reef Cruises, TTNQ, Cairns Airport, Discover, Newslink, Bijoux Terner, Sunglass Hut, All Season Cairns Gateway Resort and Sebel Cairns.
In the Workshop, they also learned to appreciate the importance of their Chinese visitors, understanding only too well, that their city of Cairns was chosen as the preferred destination, over Los Angeles, Paris, Sydney and many others.
And ultimately, they also learned to appreciate the value of the “welcome” for their Chinese visitors and how this can impact on future and return business down the track.
Remember to welcome your Chinese visitors to the Year of the Tiger!
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