Pacific Magazine > Daily News

New Tahiti Web Site Targets Huge China Travel Market

Monday: September 22, 2008

(Tahitipresse)

The GIE Tahiti Tourisme has opened a Web site in China, describing the launching as "one of its most important global showcases on the Internet as part of its ongoing mission to promote the Tahiti and Her Islands destination in overseas markets."

"The Web site www.tahiti-tourisme.cn is much more than an extension of its international Web site," Tahiti Tourisme announced during the launching at the beginning of the week. "It is an entirely new site created in partnership with the Chinese company 'meetexpo' and designed to meet the expectations of Chinese Internet users."

With 162 million Internet users reported in China in June 2007, China is "the world's second biggest country of Internet users after the United States", the GIE said in a media communiqué. "The Internet is used by 12.3 percent of China's total population, and the growth rate is an estimated 100 new Internet users per minute."

The GIE's goal is "to create a close and mutually beneficial relationship with all Chinese travel professionals . . . All tour operators and travel agents will be able to use this site and its variety of tools to support their activity and help them to promote the Tahiti and Her Islands' destination assets in their markets."

Earlier this year French Polynesia obtained Approved Destination Status (ADS) from the Chinese government after four years of negotiations involving the Tahiti, Paris and Beijing governments.

The GIE Tahiti Tourisme immediately announced a strategy plan for developing the Chinese tourism market, where it hopes to initially attract some 5,000 visitors yearly visitors out of a potential market of 13 million Chinese who traveled to distant destinations last year.

Tahiti is concentrating on essentially urban areas with three target metropolitan areas—Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong. All are located along China's sprawling east coast, providing convenient jumping off places for flights to the South Pacific.

Tahiti Tourisme is targeting two main Chinese tourist profiles—the wealthy and the very well-off. There are an estimated potential of 600,000 Chinese millionaires, which Tahiti views as potential repeat visitors. There are an estimated potential of 10 million very well-off Chinese who earn between $11,500 and $1 million yearly (€8,092-€703,638).
Tahiti Tourisme has lined up two Chinese tour operators for the wealthy sector and eight for the well-off sector.

In order to make the new Web site eve more effective, Tahiti Tourisme plans to soon provide a second phase that will offer a section devoted to tour operators and travel agents.

More than 44 million Chinese use mobile telephones to surf the Internet, the GIE reported. The country's ".cn" domain contained 810,000 names last year, an increase at the time of 137.5 percent, putting it ahead of the ".com" generic high-level domain name used in the U.S.A.

Chinese Internet users surf online to obtain information first, according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC). But commercial Web sites have rapidly developed, creating a global market at the end of 2006 worth more than 31.2 billion RMB (Renminbi), or US$4.6 billion/€3.2 billion.

Reservations for travel and hotels are the most developed sections of the online booking market in China, according to the CNNIC.

Tahiti Tourisme launched a Web site specifically designed for Chinese Internet users with its own Internet protocol (IP) address in China. The site's text is "a Chinese language version that is simplified and accessible," with "a user-friendly content and an e-newsletter system and brochures that can be downloaded.

"By hosting the site in China, it is easier to consult and offers a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that is more easily found by Chinese search engines," according to the communiqué.

The site offers a menu of clear and complete headings that include:

• General information about Tahiti and Her Islands: history and culture, climate, geography, daily life, marriages, events;
• Cruising: ships and itineraries;
• Activities: land and nautical, fauna and flora, discovery, special sights and attractions, walks and excursions;
• Accommodations: all types and categories;
• Things to see: natural wonders, historical sites, parks and gardens, panoramic lookout points;
• And, the voyage: how to get to Tahiti—airlines, cruise ships.

http://www.tahitipresse.pf/index.cfm?snav=see&presse=25376&lang=2