Preparing for Chinese tourists in Canada post-COVID-19

The Canadian government has just announced that they will be expanding their list of accepted vaccines for travel into Canada. Effective November 30, 2021, those who have received doses of the Chinese Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccine will be allowed to enter the country for travel purposes. This is a big step towards welcoming Chinese tourists back to Canada after a long hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic. But what does this mean for your business? 

Chinese tourists in Canada: the facts and figures 

Destination Canada reports that in 2018, we welcomed a record 737,000 Chinese travellers, making this demographic Canada’s second largest long-haul market. (The United Kingdom took the top spot.)  Before the pandemic, each Chinese visitor spent an average of $2,850 CAD during their stay, generating over $2 billion CAD in tourism revenue. This demographic enjoys activity-based travel such as local food and drink experiences, shopping, exploring Canada’s diverse natural landscapes and going on guided walks and tours in the outdoors. 

These numbers, of course, are representative of pre-pandemic levels. Although we cannot expect the same figures in 2022, these statistics indicate the strong potential of Chinese travellers to help restart Canada’s visitor economy.  

Prepare your business for Chinese travellers 

Take the opportunity to optimize your customer experience now, and we’re not just talking about how you welcome Chinese customers when they’re already here in Canada. It’s essential to think about their entire visitor journey. How can you engage meaningfully with the Chinese tourist before, during, and after their stay? 

• Invest in your brand’s visibility: this will be key to achieving success with this demographic. In order to be present in the minds of Chinese travellers, your brand must be where Chinese travellers seek information and inspiration for their holidays. Go beyond Google and venture into the ‘Chinese Internet’ if you haven’t already done so. Share your message in all the right places – key digital channels include Weibo, WeChat, RED, Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese equivalent) and Kuaishou. Chinese customers also tend to engage heavily with shop and chat functions on various websites and apps, so make sure to consider this as part of your sales strategy. 
• Localize and adapt your brand identity: what works for the North American or European traveller will not work for their Chinese counterpart. Spend time on telling another story about your brand to these customers. Working with local Chinese marketing and localization experts who share your passion for our beautiful destination will allow you to develop another image of your brand that will appeal directly to this demographic.
• Focus on quality rather than quantity: re-evaluating your KPIs to include more qualitative analyses will lead to increased customer satisfaction. This information, based on feelings, sentiments and opinions allows you to seek direct feedback from Chinese travellers and optimize your product and service delivery. Make it fun for people by asking them to fill out a questionnaire for the chance to win a prize in a lucky draw. 
• Increase your recommendation marketing efforts: Chinese travellers really love to share their experience with friends and family so make sure to incorporate this into your strategy. For example, adapting your product or service to provide photo opportunities with your brand makes it easy for people to share their experience on social media. Consider incorporating as much of this user-generated content into your strategy and spending some budget on KOL (key opinion leader) marketing.

Welcoming Chinese tourists in Canada for many years to come… 

It’s easy to get excited about Chinese visitors flocking to our shores again soon but make sure your cultural marketing strategy incorporates a sense of longevity. Don’t just consider Chinese tourists as a means of generating much needed revenues immediately after the pandemic. Think about the long haul. After lengthy periods of social isolation during COVID-19, now is the time to invest in creating meaningful connections that will sustain confidence in your brand well into the future. 

Chinese travellers will inevitably play a huge role in boosting Canada’s post-pandemic tourist economy in 2022. Contact us and our Chinese marketing experts will be thrilled to help your business prepare for this opportunity.