How to attract more Chinese tourists to Rotorua and what can the city's tourism operators do to help with this goal?
Those were the fundamental questions behind a research project, supported by Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology and Rotorua Canopy Tours.
The collaboration helped to establish a $5000 scholarship to student Nicolette Miranda, who had studied tourism at Toi Ohomai in 2018.
The research project focused on gaining insights in to the growing Chinese tourist market in New Zealand and identifying how these tourists can be encouraged to visit Rotorua. It also looked at helping Rotorua-based tourism operations companies identify products that need to be developed to attract these tourists and how to reach them.
The research revealed that 66 per cent of Chinese free-independent-tourists booked their activities before heading to New Zealand. In addition, it showed the majority of these tourists looked to travel agencies for recommendations on what to book. A further 19 per cent sort advice from official websites before booking travel activities.
Going out into the field
Nicolette was brought on board for 10 weeks to put together a survey and worked closely with the team at Rotorua Canopy Tours, which gave her the opportunity to learn from them as mentors.
She set up the surveys to ensure they would reach the right audience and gain valuable insights.
Rotorua Canopy Tours general manager Paul Button says it's essential to develop a strong understanding of Chinese tourists, given this is one of New Zealand's strongest tourism markets.
'Many operators would assume that Chinese FITs would book their travel activities similarly to other FITs – that is to say, once in the location and impacted by local influences.”
However, after taking the survey to market, which included visiting i-SITEs across the region and canvassing independent visitors at various Rotorua tourism sites, Nicole gathered data that proved otherwise.
The research demonstrates a need for tourism operators to focus on having an engaging official website, and strong relationships with resellers and travel agencies as the key influences on Chinese FIT travel decision making.
Paul says the research also revealed the least impactful influences on the travellers' decision-making were social platforms.
'The low impact of social influence on the Chinese FIT was a surprise to us, given the massive use of Weibo and WeChat in China.
'WeChat is China's app for everything, and Weibo has huge influence as a media platform. This just goes to show how important it is to develop an understanding of all segments of important markets.”
The research project proved the ideal opportunity for Nicolette to gain hands-on experience and build connections with one of Rotorua's tourism industry leaders. She is graduating this year.
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