You might be working on your 2020 budget and need to know how to plan for the growth of your China visitor base – or its decline. Or maybe your manager wants to enter this market – how many visitors can you expect and when? I certainly don’t know all the answers, but when I was at the BrandUSA’s China Tourism Leadership Summit last week, I was reminded about all the resources we have available to us. There are public and private sector organizations that share all kinds of information relative to this market. Here are some of the best:
Department of Commerce
The National Travel and Tourism Office is housed in the Department of Commerce. NTTO does a great job of compiling data and making it available. One of the concerns that came up during the summit was Visa wait times. Some attendees heard that because jobs that involved Visa processing weren’t being filled that it was taking several months to get a Visa, after a low of just 5 days a few years ago. Brian from NTTO shared a website that gives real-time information on Visa wait times. The good news – it’s not as bad as we have heard. The bad news – it still takes a while, which might keep some potential guests from choosing the U.S. as a destination.
The NTTO website is a treasure trove of information. You can download market overviews on the top 10 international markets and these are updated yearly. One cool thing to note, the money that international travelers spend in our country is considered an export. Why? Because people from other countries are paying for US created products and services. In fact, tourism from China helps to offset a budget deficit in relation to China.
Want to see trends? This document will show you that China is now the #1 international spending market and the #5 in arrivals ( meaning the number of people coming to our country). So these are very valuable guests.
BrandUSA
BrandUSA is our country’s national tourism promotion agency. They help create the desire to travel to our country. They do this through offices in targeted countries, marketing campaigns, Mega FAMS, and even big-screen movies! In fact, America’s Musical Journey, highlighting the music of our country won an award at the Beijing International Film festival!
While BrandUSA is always offering ways to participate in their programming and advertising, they also have free resources available for you to use. One of the most valuable is the Market guides. You can download them directly. Here is the link for the China Market Guide. It’s like your secret weapon – full of information and data that can help you build your plan for the future.
Inbound Report
If you are interested in growing the number of international visitors to your destination or business, you need to sign up for The Inbound Report, which comes as a weekly email. It is free and they cover topics, people and trends. It is also easy to read and forward articles with your boss. There is a joke in our industry – you know you’ve made it when you are featured in the Inbound report! Sign up here.
Google Alerts
No one has time to research ‘China tourism trends’ every day and keep up with all the sources that provide information. That’s where a Google Alert comes in. Check out my recent post on how to set one up. You can create one like: Chinese tourists to the US, Chinese visitors to [your state] or any other relevant topic. As you work on your plan for the future, use these tools to help you create a sound strategy and budget. And by using these resources regularly, you will be the Chinese market expert at your job!
Want some additional help?
- Check out my free resources section
- Schedule a free 15-minute call with me, or schedule a 1-hour call for a more in-depth discussion about your China initiatives.
- Hire me to speak at your tourism conference on the China market. Reply to this email and I will follow up.
- Hire me to help you create a Strategic Sales plan for your attraction. Reply to this email and let’s chat.
- DMOs: Let’s talk about my Online Training program for your partners! October’s webinar topic is ” Should you still pursue the China Market”
- Can you help me? Could you forward this post to at least one person that would benefit from reading it? Thank you!