One of the best parts of being in the Tourism industry for many years is the people I meet. Our industry has an endless list of talented, hardworking, fun-loving and creative professionals. I decided to interview my friends and give you a peek into their lives and careers. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I will follow-up with the guest interviewed. This week we hear from my friend and mentor Daniel Shen. I see Daniel at tradeshows and sales missions throughout the year and then travel with East West Marketing to China every year on a wonderful sales mission. Send me an email if you want more information!
1.Tell us a bit about how you got started in the tourism industry.
I started my tour and travel business when I graduated from college in Taiwan. First I acted as a tour leader taking tour groups to Europe regularly as the company I worked for is the GSA [General Sales agent] for Kuoni in Taiwan. Later I migrated to the U.S, lived in San Francisco, worked for a receptive operator and acted as a tour guide taking groups all over in the U.S. Then I moved down to LA and opened up Lion Tours USA receiving groups from all over SouthEast Asia, China and Taiwan since 1980.
Later I was involved with more US tourism and joined TIA (now known as US Travel) as a board director in 1996; and opened up East-West Marketing in 1998 as a representation office to promote U.S. destinations. Currently, we have over 30 clients. I think it must be in the blood for having 38 years in the tourism business.
2.What is your current job and what are your primary responsibilities?
My daily job is overseeing all operations in Lion Tours USA , meantime I also work at the East West Marketing LA-based office to coordinate with my US clients. So it is a lot easier for a client to get hold of me for any possible questions and assistance needed.
3.What are some of the changes you have seen since you began your career?
In tour and travel I see more young people join the business and injecting the energy and faster pace , more brilliant ideas, advanced technology and social media is a must.
Online information becomes a more important factor than ever.
4.What tourism trends are you seeing that will impact your job and how you work in the next 2 years?
Since there is more complete info on the internet and available updates, online booking systems are much easier for any traveler. There are more and more FITs[Foreign Independent traveler] booking and arranging itinerary by themselves online, and the travel agent needs to be able to provide more services beyond that.
The next 2 years we need to prepare ourselves internally to have more direct connections with DMOs, tour suppliers and attractions…. to get first-hand updates and the better rate than online with an easy purchasing system to satisfy the clients need.
5.It’s vacation time – where do you go?
In this tour travel business it seems busy almost every day, so when it comes to vacation I really like to go somewhere with tranquility I can really have peace in mind and brain. I will choose a beautiful national park or the South like Savannah.
6.What is your favorite app and tell us a bit about it.
I basically only use Google to search whatever info I need then call that office directly for further updates.
Then in order to contact with my China office person in an efficient way I use Wechat because I am also able to forward messages, video, photos….in a faster way.
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7.What is your favorite tradeshow and why?
Active America China is the show I like very much as it’s the only show focus on China market only. Thus whoever interested in this market from China initiative, trend, status,
Market intelligence …all the way to connect relationship with China buyers, this is the show.
8.What advice do you have for someone just getting started in the tourism industry?
I am speaking for those who are interested in starting an inbound receptive tour operator,
You need to well prepared:
1. Sufficient funds to run the office as most of the groups will ask for credit terms from 1-3 months.
2. You must have an overseas rep to deal with the fast pace in Asia and respond to your clients.
3. You must have resources from low-end suppliers to high-end luxury suppliers to justify with your various clientele. 4. Lots of patience and manpower to deal with repeated changes.
5. Due to high demand for the “new things” from either FIT or incentive groups you need to be able to find out the
info and contact from any possible resources.
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Tourism Pro Talks- Alicia Chuan of East West Marketing
WeChat is a great way to build relationships in the Chinese visitor market
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Is there a tourism industry topic you would like to know more about? Or a question about something in the industry that you don’t quite understand, but you don’t want to ask anyone in case it sounds foolish? Ask me! If you have a question, believe me, that others do as well. Email me at sally@sallydavisberry.com and I will feature the topic in an upcoming post. My passion is helping others be successful in the tourism industry!