• Fiordland

    Welcoming back our Chinese travellers

Exciting times ahead – from May, Air New Zealand is resuming daily direct flights between Shanghai and Auckland, and Air China will fly between Beijing and Auckland seven days a week.  

Historically Aotearoa’s highest-spending visitor market, Chinese travellers have long been intrigued by ‘hallmark’ Kiwi destinations and attractions. They join the approximately 300k Chinese expats who reside in New Zealand and spend big while exploring their new home.

We’ve partnered with Tony Boot of BTM Translation & Marketing to compile some key tactics and tips for tapping into the huge potential of this audience. Knowing the travel research behaviour of Chinese travellers is key and will help guide you to make the right digital marketing choices.

Waitomo Caves

Travellers

Update your listings with Tourism New Zealand

Add Chinese translations to your product listing to be inclusive and inviting.

Fold new platforms into your digital marketing mix

WeChat is an effective way to get in front of your Chinese customers while they’re still at home, and Little Red Book is growing in popularity. If you’re new to one or both, reach out to Tony for assistance in getting started – he can help with strategies around gaining and building an audience, setting things up properly, and making sure your translated messaging is all on-brand.

Consider high-level translation of your website

It may sound like an obvious thing, but having your product described in your customer’s own language is welcoming. The tricky part is the booking engine – is that component also translated? Some Chinese travellers may defer to OTA’s like booking.com because of their translations.

Check your reviews!

Chinese travellers like to minimise potential risk in purchasing and planning, especially when it comes to what they eat – food is life, and life is food. They’ll look to reviews from their peers about what’s safe and trusted.

Have you responded to positive ones lately, and have you added golden reviews from past Chinese guests to your website’s testimonial section?

Spruce up your imagery

Our Chinese tourists want to see from your social media and website that the photo opportunities while they adventure/stay/eat with you are beautiful and iconic. They want to showcase their New Zealand experience on their own social accounts, which has become a huge part of maintaining social status in their culture. Remember: we’re talking big countries and massive populations compared to ours – their social media reach within just friends and acquaintances is fantastic for your brand exposure!

With that in mind:

  • Put your ultimate photo ops front-and-centre. Does everyone love taking selfies by the lake, with a specific animal, or in a particular room? Show it off!
  • Seasonal images reign supreme. How does your outdoor dining look in the autumn? What does your popular guided walk look like with a dusting of snow?
  • And never, ever underestimate the power of a well-plated food photo…

Up your Facebook advertising game

We’re seeing more and more flexible itineraries as our Chinese visitors land. They may have been pushed into unknown products while booking at home, and then learn about what’s actually hot and reputable once on Kiwi soil.

This means that tried-and-true Currently Travelling campaigns work well to show off your epic offering. Set up a separate Facebook account in Chinese so that you can run translated ads, rather than having two languages of similar ad types running from the one account, which could confuse domestic audiences.

Boast about your on-site multi-language services!

Do you have bilingual guides on staff? Or perhaps you even use multi-language apps to narrate your tour experience. However you take your Chinese guests’ experience to the next level, shout about it on your website, your social media channels and in your translated ads!

Arrowtown

Ready to roll? Get in touch with us to activate your Chinese digital marketing activity!

#MAVERICKTOURISM

Final chance to grab an Earlybird ticket for Destination: Digital 📣
 
On our ‘From Insight to Impact’ panel, you’ll hear from data-driven decision makers Rachel Howie (RealNZ), Shaun Fitzgibbon (TRA), and Sarah Britton (nee Short) (Tourism New Zealand), who’ll bring a diverse range of perspectives on how you can leverage data to shape marketing strategies, identify emerging trends, and build high-impact campaigns.
 
As NZ’s only conference dedicated to tourism marketers, it’s a day all about equipping our industry with the latest tactics and techniques for your digital toolboxes. Now all that’s missing is you - see you on Tuesday December 3 (the day prior to TEC Xmas Symposium) at the B:Hive in Auckland. Grab an earlybird ticket before 5pm today 👉 link in bio.

Final chance to grab an Earlybird ticket for Destination: Digital 📣

On our ‘From Insight to Impact’ panel, you’ll hear from data-driven decision makers Rachel Howie (RealNZ), Shaun Fitzgibbon (TRA), and Sarah Britton (nee Short) (Tourism New Zealand), who’ll bring a diverse range of perspectives on how you can leverage data to shape marketing strategies, identify emerging trends, and build high-impact campaigns.

As NZ’s only conference dedicated to tourism marketers, it’s a day all about equipping our industry with the latest tactics and techniques for your digital toolboxes. Now all that’s missing is you - see you on Tuesday December 3 (the day prior to TEC Xmas Symposium) at the B:Hive in Auckland. Grab an earlybird ticket before 5pm today 👉 link in bio.
...

After just 8 months of dazzling us all with her epic energy, enthusiasm and quick learning; our superstar PT, @emi.cross, has been promoted to our Digital Performance Executive and we couldn't be prouder! 🚀

From navigating the tourism industry to crafting Google and Meta campaigns, Emi has truly embraced the world of paid media like a pro 👏👏👏

#Promotion #DigitalMarketing #TourismIndustry #NZ

After just 8 months of dazzling us all with her epic energy, enthusiasm and quick learning; our superstar PT, @emi.cross, has been promoted to our Digital Performance Executive and we couldn`t be prouder! 🚀

From navigating the tourism industry to crafting Google and Meta campaigns, Emi has truly embraced the world of paid media like a pro 👏👏👏

#Promotion #DigitalMarketing #TourismIndustry #NZ
...

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