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Games Bolster China’s Great Leap in Tourism
By HILARY HOWARD
Published: September 21, 2008
THE Beijing Olympics, as the most-viewed event in American television history, turned out to be pretty good publicity for Chinese tourism.
“Our customer base now wants to experience what they saw the Olympic athletes experience on television,” said Jerry Pi, president of Pacific Delight Tours. “I’ve seen a jump of about 20 percent for 2008, in terms of deposits for 2009 tours, compared to 2007.”
Architecture buffs are also making a beeline to Beijing to see groundbreaking projects like the Bird’s Nest — the Olympic stadium — and Norman Foster’s Terminal 3 at the Beijing airport. According to Detlev Bruckhoff, general manager of the FAR Agency (a German member of the Guiding Architects Network), the company’s first architecture tour to Shanghai and Beijing in October sold out in three weeks. Another tour is planned for next April (FAR : architekturführungen metropole ruhr).
China, however, has been on the fast track to tourism gold since the mid-90s, according to Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. He met with Chinese officials about 15 years ago, when they first designated about 10 tourism destinations to market heavily. “It was a national strategic priority,” he said.
And it’s worked. The annual Fall Travel Trends Survey, conducted by the Travel Leaders agency of 415 agents and managers in July and August, showed Beijing jumping seven spots to No. 16 in booked trips (Dublin was 15) and Shanghai jumping 13 spots to 20 (tying Florence, Italy) among international destinations. Both Zagat and Mobil released their first travel guides to Beijing this year; Mobil has already sold 15,000 copies in the United States.
According to Mr. Lipman, China ranks fifth in the world in tourism revenue. He said that 55 million people traveled to China last year, and spent a total of $42 billion there. The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will be the globe’s most popular tourism destination by 2015.
On top of spending $43 billion on infrastructure for the Olympics, China is investing in travel amenities like skyscraper hotels (the Park Hyatt Beijing and Park Hyatt Shanghai, for example) and smaller luxury boutique hotels (like the Hotel G in Beijing and the JIA Shanghai).
The Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, which officially opened this summer, was designed to dock international cruise ships, and Victoria Cruises, which specializes in trips along the Yangtze River, will introduce its eighth ship next April. American Airlines plans to add a nonstop flight between Chicago and Beijing in 2010, and this month, Hainan Airlines will begin four nonstop flights a week between Berlin and Beijing.
Restaurateurs and other entrepreneurs are also courting the tourist dollar. Last month, Elite Concepts, a hospitality group with ventures in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Jakarta, opened 1949 — The Hidden City, a chic dining and entertainment complex in an old Beijing factory.
And China is accomplishing all of this at a breakneck pace.
“I first went to China in 1981, and the airport was just military huts, and there were no cars, just bicycles,” said Mr. Lipman. “Now you have this incredibly vibrant, rapidly industrializing country, with a massive 5,000-year cultural heritage that the world has now had a unique opportunity to preview thanks to the Games.”
By HILARY HOWARD
Published: September 21, 2008
THE Beijing Olympics, as the most-viewed event in American television history, turned out to be pretty good publicity for Chinese tourism.
“Our customer base now wants to experience what they saw the Olympic athletes experience on television,” said Jerry Pi, president of Pacific Delight Tours. “I’ve seen a jump of about 20 percent for 2008, in terms of deposits for 2009 tours, compared to 2007.”
Architecture buffs are also making a beeline to Beijing to see groundbreaking projects like the Bird’s Nest — the Olympic stadium — and Norman Foster’s Terminal 3 at the Beijing airport. According to Detlev Bruckhoff, general manager of the FAR Agency (a German member of the Guiding Architects Network), the company’s first architecture tour to Shanghai and Beijing in October sold out in three weeks. Another tour is planned for next April (FAR : architekturführungen metropole ruhr).
China, however, has been on the fast track to tourism gold since the mid-90s, according to Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. He met with Chinese officials about 15 years ago, when they first designated about 10 tourism destinations to market heavily. “It was a national strategic priority,” he said.
And it’s worked. The annual Fall Travel Trends Survey, conducted by the Travel Leaders agency of 415 agents and managers in July and August, showed Beijing jumping seven spots to No. 16 in booked trips (Dublin was 15) and Shanghai jumping 13 spots to 20 (tying Florence, Italy) among international destinations. Both Zagat and Mobil released their first travel guides to Beijing this year; Mobil has already sold 15,000 copies in the United States.
According to Mr. Lipman, China ranks fifth in the world in tourism revenue. He said that 55 million people traveled to China last year, and spent a total of $42 billion there. The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will be the globe’s most popular tourism destination by 2015.
On top of spending $43 billion on infrastructure for the Olympics, China is investing in travel amenities like skyscraper hotels (the Park Hyatt Beijing and Park Hyatt Shanghai, for example) and smaller luxury boutique hotels (like the Hotel G in Beijing and the JIA Shanghai).
The Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal, which officially opened this summer, was designed to dock international cruise ships, and Victoria Cruises, which specializes in trips along the Yangtze River, will introduce its eighth ship next April. American Airlines plans to add a nonstop flight between Chicago and Beijing in 2010, and this month, Hainan Airlines will begin four nonstop flights a week between Berlin and Beijing.
Restaurateurs and other entrepreneurs are also courting the tourist dollar. Last month, Elite Concepts, a hospitality group with ventures in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Jakarta, opened 1949 — The Hidden City, a chic dining and entertainment complex in an old Beijing factory.
And China is accomplishing all of this at a breakneck pace.
“I first went to China in 1981, and the airport was just military huts, and there were no cars, just bicycles,” said Mr. Lipman. “Now you have this incredibly vibrant, rapidly industrializing country, with a massive 5,000-year cultural heritage that the world has now had a unique opportunity to preview thanks to the Games.”
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