September is just around the corner, and so much is going on! Summer may be tourist season, but for a destination marketing organization, fall and spring are the busiest times. That's when we're in the midst of planning, trade shows and business travel.
In September, we'll be traveling with colleagues from Seattle's CVB, Port of Seattle and EverGreen Escapes to work the Chinese travel market. We will have meetings with tour operators, meeting planners and media in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong: four cities in five days.
You may recall we participated in the Governor's economic development mission to China last year in Beijing and Shanghai. On that trip, we received great interest from the Chinese travel market. This year, in cooperation with i2i (based in Beijing), we have a robust media relations campaign, a Chinese language website under development and this mission that will include trade shows and meetings with key travel sellers in China with exclusive focus on the participating partners.
China is a great opportunity for Pierce County:
- Bookings to the U.S. increased by an average of 16 to 20 percent in the second quarter of 2011
- 802,000 Chinese travelers visited the U.S. in 2010
- China will have 100 million international travelers by 2020
- Chinese visitors spend $6,000+ per person/trip (more than double other international markets)
- Sea-Tac Airport's location is convenient with increasing direct flights to/from China
- We are a fresh, appealing destination to Chinese travelers
We will bring back a report and share the details of this mission with you when we return. Other things to look for in your email in the next few weeks:
- Strategic planning consultation meetings (October)
- Save the date for the Tourism Matters TRCVB Annual Meeting and Tourism Celebrity Awards (November)
