Finland had a great year for tourism, and for Chinese tourism especially. In 2017 the number of Chinese visits to the Nordic country rose by an impressive 63 percent, according to Visit Finland. 2016 witnessed around 265,000 Chinese visits to the country, and 2017 witnessed around 432,000.
Chinese people increase their interest in Finland
Besides the famous aurora, the growth in the number of travelers also brings unwanted phenomena and during the peak season, our capacity is beginning to be reached in some unique destinations. By developing tourism responsibly while taking into account our unique nature, cultural surroundings, and local communities living off tourism.
According to Visit Finland, tourism employs 5.5 percent of Finland’s workforce about 140,000 people – and they tend to be young people. It estimates that tourism contributes 2.5 percent of Finland’s GDP, making it bigger than the food sector and nearly as large as farming, forestry, and fisheries.
How to attract Chinese tourists to Finland?
Establish a website
It is initially important to start an official website for the tourism agency which wants to attract more and more Chinese tourists to Finland, because it can be more trusted by Chinese people and it is better to be able to found on some main SEO in China, such as Baidu.
In fact, Baidu is the first Chinese search engine with more than 82% of the market share, so if you need visibility you have to be on top of Baidu. It’s not a simple thing because Baidu protocols are totally different from the western search engine like Google. You have to adapt to the Chinese system for better results.
E-reputation is the priority
It is crucial to rely on SEO and other popular social media platforms. 75% of the research in China is on Baidu. You need to have a good ranking on Baidu to be visible. Chinese consumers will only buy brands that have a good ranking on Baidu.
And more importantly, you should use various social media platforms to gain your e-reputation. WeChat has more than 800 million active users every day. The social media platform is amazing with a lot of convenient features useful for brands and users. For brands, it’s really easy to communicate with your target and develop a strong community of followers. Having an account on WeChat enables you to promote your brand via mobile or tablet.
Except for WeChat, Weibo is also a great choice for gaining E-reputation for the business. Weibo is the second-most mass-used social networking site in China, with around 82% penetration rate across the country and more than 50 million active users per day in 2016. The microblogging platform encourages people to post comments and content on all subjects without suffering from censorship. So it is important to create a Weibo official account to improve their presence in China and attract more followers.
Combine with Alipay
If a tourism business wants to acquire more and more Chinese tourists, it is better to understand their terms of payment. Differing from western people, Chinese people usually don’t have the habit to pay with credit cards, but this doesn’t mean they still stick to the original way to pay the bill, instead of adopting advanced E-payment, like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Finland’s tourism success can be attributed to aggressive marketing and industry reorientation. A big part of this effort has been the widespread adoption of Chinese mobile payments, particularly Alipay. Alibaba claims that Finland is the world’s first “all-Alipay” destination. Alibaba even sent eight Chinese tourists to the country for a “cashless” getaway, touting that the travelers could book flights, make retail purchases, and dine out all with Alipay.
While Alipay adoption may not seem particularly crucial in driving total visits, it can go a long way for a destination like Finland. This is because the majority of the country’s Chinese visitors are simply participating in short stopover trips, something that Visit Finland has prudently pushed as a tourism opportunity, along with Helsinki Airport operator Finavia.
The strategy of adopting Alipay is more about making it as easy as possible to visit for a short while on a layover, than making the country a more attractive destination in and of itself.
Collaborate closely with famous airlines and hotels
It would much more convenient to bring tourism, hotels and airlines, and other related parts together. On account of this, it is a success that Alipay already partnered with Finnish airline Finnair and some top chain hotels.
Finnish airline Finnair has announced a long-term strategic partnership with Chinese online travel platform Alitrip, which is owned by the Alibaba Group. The agreement has resulted in creating travel packages seeking to bring Chinese tourists to Finland during the coldest months of the year.
Work with KOLs
The KOL has become a powerful tool for tourism marketing in China. Many KOLs command thousands of followers on Chinese social media platforms. They will share your messages with their fans and write articles about your company. Chinese customers tend to trust the opinions of these KOLs more.
If the KOL shares wonderful pictures or videos about his or her personal tour in Finland, his or her followers will generate plenty of interest in the spots the KOL has visited, restaurants he or she entered or hotels he or she would like to stay at. This information will transfer into economic benefits for travel agencies, hotels, or restaurants.
Promote at the right time and on the right platforms
The Chinese do not have the same holiday periods as the West. The Chinese actually have several major holidays throughout the year. Although there are many long weekends during the year, there are two major holiday periods:
The first is the Chinese New Year. During the Chinese New Year, most people in China go home to celebrate with their families but more and more choose to travel instead. The second festival is the national holiday. If one counts both domestic and international travel, then nearly 600 million Chinese were on vacation during this period the last annex.
Also, we can see more and more independent Chinese travelers. They like adventure, so for better recommendations, Chinese travelers go find their information in Independent Travel forums like Qyer, Mafengwo, and tunic… which are very popular. You should take advantage of this and make sure you are present on these Chinese forums
Gentlemen Marketing Agency is Tourism specialized agency for the Chinese market. Why is it important for you to work with us? Because, we have already worked with nearly 200 Clients in the Tourism industry such as Aiguemarine Paris, CroisiEurope, Russian Airlines (Aeroflot)
Do not hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss any projects in China.
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