Focus Asia expands deeper into China, explores multi-country possibilities

Beautiful view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the Suocui Bridge over the Black Dragon Pool in the Jade Spring Park, Lijiang, Yunnan province, China. - Image

Following decades of operating in South-east Asia, including China’s Yunnan province, Vietnam-based DMC Focus Asia has taken the “next logical step” in its expansion strategy to cover the rest of the Middle Kingdom.

The move marks the “completion of a country which we already started via Yunnan” and to “offer China as a full destination”, Frank Wiegand, Focus Asia’s director of team sales Europe and board member told TTG Asia.

Focus Asia is expanding its portfolio to cover the whole of China now, instead of just Yunnan; Jade Spring Park in Lijiang, Yunnan province pictured

“Second, we focus on countries where DMC are really needed. These are mainly round-trip destinations and not so much destinations where hotel-only-bookings, especially for beach stays, are a very big part of the potential volume.”

He added: “There is of course good knowledge of China as a destination, as long as we talk about the main highlights. But China off the beaten track has much more to offer than what you see in the actual tour operating brochures.”

With multi-destination tours growing in popularity among the Western longhaul market, Wiegand sees “exciting possibilities” that China, in combination with other South-east Asian countries, will bring. “Many of them are repeaters – and they are looking also for in-depth-experience.”

China would make a great combination with Vietnam and Laos, suggested Wiegand, whether it’s going overland from Hong Kong, via the new bridge linking to Macau, to the World Heritage Site of Kaiping Diaolou and further to Vietnam’s Halong Bay, or going north to Guilin and onward to Nanning, before crossing the border to Vietnam’s Detian Waterfall and onward to Hanoi.

Elsewhere in China, the increasing demand for the old Silk Road is an example of new exciting tours within the country too, he pointed out.

Focus Asia has its head offices for China in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, plus operation offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Kunming.

Maya Caspary, meanwhile, has been appointed as a new senior member team sales Europe in Munich to support Focus Asia’s worldwide teams internally.

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