NTA New Orleans China Fam Trip Creates Model for Future Projects
MAKES THE WORLD BETTER FOR HUMAN EXISTEN.
PHOTO: Haybina Hao, director of international development for NTA. (Photo by David Cogswell)
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Tour operator members of the National Tour Association (NTA) are handling 40 percent of China's inbound tourism. The high percentage is not surprising, since any operator working in the China inbound market has to get approval from the Chinese government, and that process is handled through the NTA.
Through a memorandum of understanding signed by NTA and the Chinese government in late 2007, the travel association set up a Visit USA office in Shanghai to help facilitate inbound tourism from China. The office operated for three years, funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
After the Brand USA act was passed by Congress in 2010, Brand USA set up an office and a presence in China, which effectively takes the place of NTA’s Visit USA office in creating a presence for U.S. inbound tourism in China. And after that NTA moved its China inbound program back to the U.S.
Meanwhile, of all of NTA’s programs, that one single program, the China inbound tourism program, has spurred growth in NTA membership to such a degree that a China inbound operators now account for a quarter of the association’s approximately 700 tour operator membership.
NTA also has members that are not tour operators, including hotel companies and other travel suppliers and destination marketing organizations. The China inbound tourism market is of enormous significance and potential for all of them.
The market is growing rapidly and its potential is at a scale that is almost incomprehensible. China’s nearly 1.4 billion people were allowed to travel internationally only in recent years, and to the U.S. only since 2008. Before 2008, when the U.S. was given Approved Destination Status by the Chinese government, the only Chinese people who could travel to the U.S. were government sponsored groups of government officials or business elites.
But now, with the doors open and a rising middle class that is gaining the economic means to travel abroad, the numbers are accelerating rapidly. From 2006 through 2013 the visitor numbers quadrupled, from 320,000 to 1.8 million.
Last October U.S. visa regulations were relaxed, allowing Chinese visitors to get visas that last 10 years instead of only one, as before. And that is having an additional effect, driving the growth even more. The trend is gathering momentum rapidly and it has only begun.
Introducing New Orleans
NTA, in coordination with the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, brought 19 people representing 13 China inbound tour operators to the Crescent City to look at what is available to their clients. Most of the tour operators that participated in the fam trip are based in the U.S. Two were based in China.
NTA’s Haybina Hao, who is in charge of NTA’s China inbound program, told TravelPulse that the fam trip was a success and accomplished its objectives.
“The New Orleans CVB presented several key elements of what New Orleans has to offer,” said Hao, “Really the best ones, including a plantation, a swamp tour, a jazz club and the food of course. They presented it as a nice package and at a nice pace in two days plus an evening.
“I think they sold the city quite successfully because I spoke to several operators and they said this is very sellable and ‘We are going to work on this.’”
The trip gave the participating operators a chance to become acquainted with local receptive tour operators that they may be able to do business with in the future.
Learning the Ropes of a New Market
NTA is tackling two issues that have emerged as the China inbound tourism program has evolved. One was that the tour operators who wanted to sell U.S. inbound travel had limited knowledge of the destinatioins.
“Our operators knew about the gateway cities,” said Hao, “but very little about rest of country.”
A second issue was that the destination marketing organizations were trying to promote themselves to travel companies in China.
“They didn’t think about the folks who are right here,” said Hao. One of the ways NTA could help promote the growth of the market was to put those destination marketing organizations in contact with tour operators who are operating in that market but are U.S. based. “We could educate those folks about the tour operators that are right under their noses."
Structure of the Market
There are three categories of tour operators that are working in the China inbound market, said Hao. One is traditional, mainstream tour operators who have been in place for a long time and are owned by mainstream American companies. An example is Star Destinations.
A second category contains new companies that are owned by Chinese immigrants, who came to U.S. and started a company to focus on the inbound China market.
A third category is companies that are operations within larger companies, such as Shanghai Spring Tours, which is a division of Shanghai Airlines.
“They established a branch in California,” said Hao. “It looks like a small operation but it’s connected with a giant company.”
Floodgates Opening Wider
Tourism companies that want to cater to the China inbound market are now bracing for an increased flow since the U.S. visa regulations were relaxed last October, allowing Chinese visitors to get visas for 10 years instead of one.
“The expansion of the visa makes it easier,” said Hao. “It makes it possible to focus on one region and have a little more fun, and to be able to come back again in another year for a different region rather than having to rush to travel to both coasts in two weeks. The change in the visa is huge. It’s going to really change the market.”
Only the Beginning
It’s not the first familiarization trip NTA organized for China inbound tour operators. Last October the association conducted a shopping themed trip in coordinations with Tanger Outlets. It visited Arizona, Texas and Utah, stopping at Tanger Outlet stores along the way.
“It wasn’t just about shopping,” said Hao. “We told Tanger that if it had been only about shopping, it would not have worked. But shopping is a hook. It was used as a draw. It combined shopping with learning the destinations.”
Now that NTA has the procedure down, it will organize more in other destinations.
“From NTA’s standpoint it is manageable,” said Hao. “The New Orleans CVB did much of the work. All I did was approach them with the idea. We requested an itinerary for discussion. We reviewed it, discussed it and put out a promotional notice to out China inbound network to recruit operators. It worked beautifully on our side and on the New Orleans side.”
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