Thrive or Survive. China Outbound Tour Operator Due Diligence Is No Longer A Luxury.

With the world’s single largest source of outbound tourists the lock down measures in China are receiving a disproportionate amount of international tourism analysis. With no predetermined date for China to restart the group outbound tourism industry, although many expect opening at the end of the year, international tourism destination and product brands are finding it difficult to develop post-crisis re-engagement plans.

But the devil in the detail has also been much further accentuated by the lack of a clear understanding as to what is currently occurring within China’s leading outbound tour operators. Which previous tour operator partner companies are now officially or practically bankrupt? ByeCity, the Alibaba invested online travel services, visa and hotel booking company has shut down. Which TO’s have been weakened to the point of no return. Strong industry rumors persist that one of China’s largest online travel agencies is struggling to survive. And lastly which TO’s will likely be strong enough post-crisis to continue to deliver strong group numbers to your destination?

Co-branding/partnering campaigns with leading Chinese outbound tour operators have never come cheap, never easy, and there have always been questions around clear KPI's and actual ROI (massive click traffic, no matter how great, has little relation to actual sales), but in the post-crisis market, where are your marketing dollars likely to be squandered versus where are you likely to see a healthy return on investment? Tourism representation agencies with rock solid China tour operator relations that were in the past used to make a destination or product thrive have now become essential in the expert network industry (companies using expert level interviews to conduct  business intelligence research) to ensure destinations and products can survive employing good old fashioned due diligence analysis of potential tour operator partners your brand might invest its treasured budget with.

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