Seeing Paris in a new light

longhaul_1From the vast markets of China and India to emerging sources like Vietnam and the Philippines, Asia is firmly planted on both Paris and Israel’s tourist radars. Paige Lee Pei Qi and Rohit Kaul report 

With an eye on grooming the small but high-potential market of South-east Asia, Paris is now casting its sights beyond traditional markets in the region on the Philippines and Vietnam.

The Paris Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) held its third annual sales mission in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia in March this year, with a new stop included in the Philippines for the first time. From next year, Vietnam will be added into the sales mission route as well.

Patricia Barthelemy, marketing manager of Paris CVB, said: “These two new markets (the Philippines and Vietnam) have tremendous untapped potential and it is important to promote ourselves to them because there are definitely rising numbers of travellers (from) there.”

According to Barthelemy, Paris welcomed 30 million visitors in 2014, up from 29 million in 2013, and business and MICE travellers made up 40 per cent of the destination’s arrivals.

She added that there were approximately 600,000 visitors from South-east Asia last year, a three-fold increase from 200,000 in 2013, credits to the CVB’s increased efforts to raise awareness about the destination over the past three years.

While there are currently about 30,000 visitors from the Philippines and Vietnam each year, Barthelemy said the CVB is targeting to pump this number up to 100,000 each in five to eight years time.

Apart from increasing arrivals, Barthelemy said the CVB aims to attract visitors with new and revitalised products.
“What we need to do now is to get in touch with our South-east Asian key counterparts and get them acquainted with the destination so they will know what to promote,” she said.

Lido de Paris, for example, launched a new cabaret show in April, and the Baroque-style Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte will recreate France in the 17th century with candlelit dinners and themed events.

Apart from such sales mission trips, the CVB has also organised fam trips for this market.

“Paris is popular because the name of the city itself stands out… there is this sense of romanticism and culture that attracts people to the city,” she said.

longhaul_3

Christophe Floch, director of Paris-based DMC KTS France, said: “We know how important it is especially for the Asians to leave their guests impressed, so we need to do more marketing because there is never a shortage of something to impress them in Paris.”

With a growing number of client requests coming from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, Floch said: “It is clear that there is greater spending power in these countries because we see a rise in demand of about 10 per cent from them, (along) with new expectations too.

“For instance they will not go for anything less than a four-star hotel and it has to be centrally located,” he added.

Vice president of Indonesia-based AntaVaya Leisure, Alex Djunisap, suggested that a visa-on-arrival policy will boost interest in the city. While the number of tour groups heading to Paris has increased by at least 10 per cent for his firm over the past two years, he is optimistic that it can grow further with the elimination of visas.

He said: “Paperwork is always one of the most tiring procedures, especially for big groups. If we can have visas on arrival, I am very sure the numbers into Paris will increase enormously.”

Stella Loh, manager of MICE, Golden Tourworld Travel in Malaysia, said: “Malaysians are a very well-travelled bunch and Europe will always be one of their top priorities. Right now, we are looking to explore deeper into France, like unusual places to host them in the mountainous regions beyond the usual sights, because everyone knows about the typical Paris.”

Holy Land calls to Asians

longhaul_2The Israel Ministry of Tourism is keen to attract outbound tourists from Asian markets, with India and China at the centre of this strategy. Current source markets for Israel include the US, Germany and Russia.

“India and China are the two main Asian markets Israel’s Ministry of Tourism focuses on. There are also marketing activities in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. From 2016, there will be more focus on Japan as well,” said Amir Halevi, director general, Israel Ministry of Tourism. Israel recorded about 13,000 Japanese tourists in 2014.

“We are focusing on a number of initiatives in each Asian destination through joint marketing agreements, holding seminars for leading local (consultants), hosting journalists and opinion leaders, and participating in travel exhibitions to increase tourist arrivals,” he added.

Currently, the Israel Ministry of Tourism focuses on leisure, FIT and group travel in the Asian markets, with plans to expand to MICE and corporate travel in the future, Halevi revealed.

Through our trade and consumer marketing initiatives, we want to showcase our diverse products from the green north of Israel to the desert in the south; wineries and unique resorts near the Dead Sea; and Tel Aviv, the capital of culture and night life,” said Hassan Madah, director – India, Israel Ministry of Tourism.

A major potential market, India sent about 36,000 visitors to Israel in 2014. Israel is expecting 50,000 Indian arrivals this year and 100,000 arrivals by 2017. The Israeli Ministry of Tourism has launched an online training programme to educate Indian travel consultants about Israel.

The NTO is now looking to ease visa process for Indian travellers. “At the moment, visas to Chinese citizens are given within five working days. The same is planned to be implemented for Indians,” added Halevi. At present, it takes about 10 days for an Indian tourist to obtain a visa.

longhaul_4

For the Chinese market, the NTO is encouraging more hotels in Israel to offer Chinese cuisine, one of the challenges restricting the growth of that market. It is also looking to offer tourist information in Mandarin besides training more guides in the language. The NTO is also pressing for more direct connectivity between the two countries. In 2014, Israel received 33,021 Chinese tourists, up 29 per cent from the previous year.

“Chinese tourists are mainly from the business segment though there are some leisure tourists. We are seeing an increase in demand from the Chinese incentive group as well,” said Ronit Ezra, incoming sales manager, Mamilla Hotel.

“We are utilising online marketing besides participating in trade shows and organising seminars and fam trips for travel consultants to create awareness about our tourism products in China. We are also looking to increase our marketing budget for the Chinese market, which at present is about US$600,000 and we expect it to grow to US$2-3 million in three to four years,” said Oren Drori, deputy director general and head of marketing administration, Israel Ministry of Tourism.

The tourism ministry has tied up with Thomas Cook and Cox & Kings for a joint advertisement campaign that is currently running on travel channels like National Geographic and Discovery. It also has launched a coffee table book, in association with Thomas Cook, highlighting MICE facilities in Israel.

This article was first published in TTG Asia, August 7, 2015 issue, on page 14. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe

Additional reporting from Rohit Kaul

Sponsored Post