British government has announced an additional £ 8-million budget (US 12.5 million) for a marketing campaign to attract more Chinese tourists as the country wants to capitalize on the Olympic Games effects.
MACAU- The Olympics and Para-Olympic Games are over but work is only starting for promoting the UK. This is what could be heard from VisitBritain Chairman Christopher Rodrigues who delivered a speech at the first Global Economy Tourism Forum hosted earlier this week in Macau. Talking about the impact of mega-events and festivities, Mr. Rodrigues explained that it was probably a far more difficult exercise to capitalize on the positive image generated by the Olympic Games. His assessment was echoed by Christopher Brown, Special Representative in the UNWTO General Secretary and former Managing Director of TTF (Transport Tourism Forum) in Australia.
He took as a reference Sydney, another Olympic Games host city in 2000. Despite the success of the Games which at the time were seen as the most successful in Olympics’ history, the mistake was to believe that everything was done in terms of promotion. Money for marketing consequently dried out and Sydney never capitalized on the Games’ legacy. Tourism subsequently declined as Sydney’s global awareness disappeared. Looking at data from Destination NSW, it took six financial years for Sydney to surpass 2000/2001 international arrivals’ level and five financial years to surpass the level of international overnights… “Why to spend all this money if there is no follow-up after the event itself?” he questioned…
In the UK, VisitBritain will just do the contrary. “We saw a considerable improvement of the UK perception, especially a significant positive image of our welcome,” said VisitBritain chairman. The Government provided an extra 25 million pounds for promotional purposes with the new GREAT campaign. “Just for China, we received an additional fund of eight million pounds. China will continue to represent one of the most promising market in terms of development in the future”, assured Mr. Rodrigues.
Currently, around 150,000 Chinese tourists visit the UK every year, but the British government would like to increase that number to 500,000 by 2015. “Nobody should underestimate the opportunity Chinese cities represent with its strong expanding urban middle class,” added Christopher Rodrigues. Marketing efforts will help to gain back lost shares to neighbouring countries such as France, which already received 25% to 50% more Chinese travellers than the UK. If the campaign reaches its target, half a million of Chinese would represent an estimated £ 500 million extra in tourist revenues and the creation of over 12,000 jobs.
Photo: Christopher Rodrigues
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
