Finland, Switzerland, Britain and Italy pour more resources on Asian source markets
Finland taps its Polar forces to woo Asians
Source: Finnish Tourist Board
Each winter, when the Arctic night skies light up with auroras – also known as northern lights – hordes of Japanese and Chinese tourists flock to Lapland in northern Finland to watch the spectacular phenomenon, shared Finnair’s media relations director, Paivyt Tallqvist.
Indeed, Japan has become the top Asian source market for Finland, which welcomed 176,936 Japanese tourists in 2012, a rise of 20 per cent from 2011, according to statistics from Finnish Tourist Board (MEK). Japanese visitors also chalked up the highest daily spend at 126 euros (US$168), a significant amount above the average expenditure of 59 euros per day for foreign travellers in 2012.
At the same time, China has rapidly emerged as a source market for this Nordic nation too. Last year, Chinese arrivals reached 100,075, up 8.7 per cent from 92,099 in 2011.
The rise of these two Far Eastern countries as visitor source markets has prompted MEK to reassess its previously Europe-centric marketing strategy.
Mervi Holmén, MEK’s director of nation brand and marketing, said: “We will not pull out from Europe as it is still very important for us in the future, but our marketing emphasis will be stronger in Russia, Japan and parts of China from the beginning of next year.”
Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing and Hong Kong – also destinations that Finnair flies to – have been identified as MEK’s focal cities in Greater China. The NTO is “negotiating joint activities and marketing campaigns with Finnair”, according to Holmén; further details will be unveiled in September when the board finalises its marketing plans.
As the flag carrier and largest airline of Finland, Finnair is a key player in attracting Asian travellers to the country and will work with the tourism authorities where its objectives are “aligned”, such as selling Lapland as a destination for the outbound segment in Japan, according to the airline’s senior vice president commercial, Allister Paterson.
He quipped: “Finland wants to bring people to Finland, whereas we want to bring people to Helsinki, then either have them stay in Finland or elsewhere in Europe. We’re just as happy if they land in Finland and leave again.”
Having rolled out an Asian-centric strategy with plans to double its revenue from Asia-Europe traffic by 2020 from a 2010 baseline, Finnair continues to leverage on the geographical location of its Helsinki base to tap growth opportunities in Asia-Europe traffic.
Earlier this month, Finnair began thrice-weekly flights to Xi’an and Hanoi, becoming the first European airline to connect these cities and bumping up its Asian destinations to 13. Xi’an is the airline’s fourth destination in China, following Shanghai, Beijing and Chongqing.
Said Finnair deputy CEO, Ville Iho: “North Asia-North Europe is the sweet spot for Finnair. Going via Helsinki saves four hours on average, an important consideration for business travellers.”
Paterson agreed: “The Asia-centric approach works better for the Far East markets…The majority of our growth and revenue over the last couple of years has been from Asia.”
Second-tier cities in China are clearly on Finnair’s development radar, Paterson pointed out. “We’re the first ones into Chongqing and Xi’an from Europe as a non-stop (service). These cities are secondary markets but they are big – Chongqing has 30 million people.
“We are seeing good load factor on our Asian routes, although they are lower on developing markets like Chongqing and Xi’an…Not everyone knows the Polar route, so we need to teach geography (to the travel trade). There is a lot of growth left in Asia, which we plan to grow.”
However, further network expansion in Asia will be restricted until the airline starts to take delivery of its 11 Airbus A350 aircraft order in 2015, according to Iho. Finnair’s executives declined to reveal new destinations on the company’s radar.
In addition, Qatar Airways’ and SriLankan Airlines’ upcoming entry into Oneworld will
also spell opportunities for Finnair to extend its reach, said Paterson.
Meanwhile, MEK has no plans to ramp up its presence or marketing efforts in India or South-east Asia at the moment “due to limited resources”, Holmén revealed.
Sunny Asian market for Switzerland
Source: Kurt Rufli
Switzerland Tourism expects five to 10 per cent additional visitors from Singapore and Australia as a result of Swiss International Air Lines’ (SWISS) direct daily Singapore-Zurich service, which took off on May 13.
The NTO has set aside “a special budget” to promote Switzerland in both markets, according to Switzerland Tourism’s executive vice president, Urs Eberhard.
“We have seen time and again that every direct connection into our country brings five to 10 per cent additional visitors,” Eberhard said.
Arved von zur Muhlen, SWISS’ head of sales & marketing-Intercontinental, noticed “a shift” in Australian visitors using Hong Kong as gateway to Europe, to Singapore, as a result of the Singapore-Zurich service. “Now that we have started this service, our customers from Australia who flew Australia-Hong Kong-Europe are now flying Australia-Singapore-Europe. It may balance out over time, but this is what we’re seeing now. This is not an issue, as it means we have more seats for our Hong Kong customers,” he said.
Australia is a growth market for Switzerland, as is the whole South-east Asian region.
“The direct Singapore-Zurich service is an important trigger. If you fly to London, Paris or Rome (to tour Europe), you might or might not visit Switzerland, but if you fly to Zurich, you are likely to spend some time in the country before going on, adding overnights for us,” Eberhard said. Zurich, along with Luzern and Geneva, is the most popular destination among South-east Asian visitors, he added.
South-east Asia, which Eberhard said had been “a success story for us from 2008 to 2012”, is on track to contribute some 500,000 overnights in Switzerland by 2016, from 350,000 overnights now. “That’s a year-on-year increase of 10-20 per cent, depending on the South-east Asian market. Indonesia is hot on the heels of Thailand in growth, but Singapore remains by far the most important market, which was why we opened our office here in June last year.”
The average spend of South-east Asian visitors in Switzerland is around CHF350 (US$379) per day, which is 30 to 50 per cent higher than the average spend of Chinese visitors, according to Eberhard.
His plan is to target more seasoned travellers from South-east Asia – as well as China – in a bid to improve yield.
Switzerland Tourism is working with agencies in South-east Asia and land operators in Switzerland to create new products and itineraries that go beyond Swiss icons such as the Jungfrau, Titlis, Lucern and Interlaken.
“We hear from the agencies that their discerning travellers want deeper experiences, so together with the agencies, we’re trying to create new icons in, say, the eastern parts of Switzerland, where there is a lot of century-old traditions and colourful festivals their clients can enjoy.
“It’s a mix of us getting an education on what Asians want and us giving new ideas to the travel agencies. We are coming up with seven to eight new itineraries which we hope can be in the programme in 2014,” Eberhard said.
Switzerland Tourism has given the Asian market a lot more focus since 2008, when the impact of the US and European debt-crisis started to bite its visitorship from traditional markets.
Eberhard said in the end Swiss travellers themselves saved the day. ‘We were extremely afraid that the strong Swiss franc would cause Swiss travellers to abandon Switzerland and holiday in Italy, France, etc. But the domestic market has been stable – if it had left us, that would have been a problem. The domestic market is 33 to 34 per cent of the total market.
“This attests to the quality and value they get in a Switzerland holiday, which visitors from Australia and South-east Asia recognise as well,” he said.
Britain trains sights on China, India
Source: VisitBritain
VisitBritain, the national tourism agency of the UK, will focus on growing emerging outbound markets such as China, India and the Middle East as a key strategy to reach its target of 40 million tourist arrivals and an expenditure of £31.5 billion (US$42 billion) by 2020.
The Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APMEA) market is expected to account for two million of the targeted nine million visitor arrival increase to Britain by 2020, contributing £1.9 billion of the anticipated £12.8 billion rise in inbound tourism spending.
While the US and Australia remain core visitor source markets for Britain, VisitBritain is increasingly looking east for long-term sustainable growth, said its director of overseas networks Keith Beecham.
“About 179,000 Chinese travelled to Britain last year, compared with one million from Australia, our fourth biggest value market,” said Beecham, who deemed China an important market despite its “relatively modest travel number”.
“We are also looking at emerging opportunities where arrivals are growing 10 to 30 per cent per annum and are generally high-spending visitors.”
Some 339,000 Indians visited Britain last year and VisitBritain aims to raise the figure to 500,000 by 2020. It is also targeting 382,000 Chinese arrivals in 2016, up from 179,000 last year.
To tap growth from these focus markets, the NTO and its partners have implemented a series of initiatives that go beyond its global GREAT Britain – You’re Invited marketing campaign.
In China, VisitBritain has injected an additional £2 million this financial year, a move that follows the recent appointment of a dedicated travel trade representative in Beijing by London & Partners, the capital’s tourism promotion agency.
In addition, VisitBritain will soon launch a China Welcome initiative to educate the British travel trade on the specific requirements and preferences of Chinese visitors, said Joss Croft, marketing director, VisitBritain.
Flight capacity between the two countries will also be expanded when British Airways starts its thrice-weekly service between London (Heathrow) and Chengdu via Shanghai on September 22.
Furthermore, the recent £2 million, two-year Britain, A Tradition of Luxury joint marketing campaign launched by VisitBritain and Emirates to target affluent international travellers between 35-55 years old is set to play a significant role in India, whose outbound segment is generally younger and more adventurous than China.
Promoting destinations outside of London, which are visited by 53 per cent of all arrivals to Britain, is another key strategy of VisitBritain to garner more international footfalls.
While VisitBritain will not launch major promotions in South-east Asia due to budget constraints, it has identified key “nurture” markets such as Indonesia (see TTG Asia e-Daily, May 15, 2013).
As well, the BritAgent programme will continue to play an essential role in educating travel experts, said Croft. Over 3,170 of 5,150 agents are based in APMEA, with China and India accounting for about 1,900.
Italy charms Asian shoppers
Source: Hannah Koh
The third most visited country in Europe with 17.3 per cent of the continent’s total arrivals after Spain (23.2 per cent) and France (26 per cent), Italy has shifted its focus to the fast-growing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations as well as Japan.
According to Confcommercio data, Italy’s inbound tourism revenue peaked at 36 billion euros (US$48 billion) and 47.4 million inbound tourist arrivals in 2012. The most visited regions by international tourists are Venice, Tuscany, Rome and Emilia-Romagna.
“Indian tourists to Italy have grown 94 per cent in the last five years” said Marco Bruschini, director-general of Italian State Tourist Board (ENIT). “Some 467,000 Indians travelled to Italy in 2012, up from 191,000 in 2007.”
Having just reopened its Mumbai office in May 2013 after a year-long absence, ENIT will establish the Italia Academy for the Indian travel trade in 3Q2013 and will bank on Italy’s popularity as a setting for Indian films.
“Asia is emerging quickly as a prime source market…The Italian travel trade is gearing for the market shift from traditional sources like the US and Germany and reorienting itself to India and China,” said Beatrice Steffanelli, incoming & events consultant of Bologna-based Viaggi Salvadori, which has designed shopping and gastronomy tours to capture a larger slice of the Asian inbound market.
As Chinese, Japanese and Russian tourists form a large segment of its clientele, Castel Guelfo The Style Outlets has rolled out Asian-centric initiatives, said marketing specialist Margherita Macchia. “We are targeting India and China, as brands that are currently being advertised and retailed in these countries add outlets in our malls. Personal shoppers trained in Asian tastes and preferences are employed to help them shop (at our outlets).”
The perception of Italy as a luxury shopping destination will lure more visitors from China, travel experts opined. Chinese arrivals to Italy are expected to grow by more than 15 per cent each year from 2012-2016, according to the World Travel Market Global Trends Report 2012.
Wang Chenchen, European operations executive of Beijing-based U-tour, remarked: “Italy will be big in the next five years for Chinese outbound. We have seen more than 30 per cent growth year-on-year.”
However, direct flight connections between Italy and China remain limited, with most links currently served by Air China and China Eastern Airlines.
Samuel Wong, managing director of Hong Kong-based Jetway Express, said: “More direct flights (from China) to Rome and Milan will improve numbers by at least 20 per cent. However, since China is a large country, flights will have to originate from several source cities other than Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to realise the true potential from this market.”
ENIT’s efforts to woo Japanese tourists with more roadshows and trade fam trips have paid off, as Japan is Italy’s second largest non-EU visitor source market. Said Izumi Sasamori, manager of Tokyo-based Athteion: “The exposure to Italian tourism products has helped us to promote Italy well and the number of tourists to Italy is growing at least 15 per cent annually. Gastronomy is a binder as we pride ourselves on our cuisine too.”
Additional reporting from Raini Hamdi, Greg Lowe and Shekhar Niyogi
