The top trends from the Asia Adventure Market with 40urs & Bannikin:
1. 100,000 Chinese soccer fans in 2018 FIFA in Russia
Despite not fielding a team in this year’s world cup, Chinese tourists have flocked to Russia to participate as spectators. More than 40,000 tickets have been sold to Chinese fans, ranking 9th in worldwide sales. They are expected to bring in over 3B Yuan to the host nation. The appeal of ‘the beautiful game’ overcame typical concerns such as distance, visa and time difference. Russia had some policies that aided this. Namely a visa-free scheme, shopping tax exemption and special trains. Over 100,000 Chinese travelers are expected to take advantage of the visa-free scheme.
2. Ctrip Announces Strategic Partnership with Booking Holdings
Two of the world’s biggest booking platforms announced a strategic partnership this June. Ctrip and Booking Holdings (Booking.com) will continue to work together – despite the fact they are competitors. Gillian Tans, the CEO of Booking.com will serve as an advisor on CTrip’s board and the two companies continue to share hotel inventory. The press release announcing the partnership also notes that Ctrip entered into a partnership with OpenTable to expand offerings of restaurant reservations via Ctrip.
3. New Accommodation Channel by Fliggy
On June 21st, the OTA Fliggy (Alibaba Group) launched a new channel for online hotel bookings, including for homestay for short term rentals. Since April, no deposit has been required on overnight bookings, and as a result the platform has seen bookings increase at a rate of 30%.
4. Domestic Adventure in China Increasing
The first World adventure travel forum was held in the Huairou district Beijing on June 12. According to the release from the conference, revenues generated from domestic Chinese Adventure Travel reached 200B Y, a year on year increase of 30%.
5. New Access to Mongolia for Adventure Travellers from Hong Kong
MIAT Mongolian Airline and Cathay Pacific have implemented their new codeshare agreement, providing significant growth opportunities for both airlines. Customers can now book these new codeshare flights for travel beginning July 12. Cathay Pacific welcomes adding Ulaanbaatar to their global network and strongly take Mongolia as an attractive destination to both tourists and business travellers . MIAT Mongolian Airlines President & CEO Mr Tamir Tumurbaatar announced that: “This is a winning step for both airlines and will provide our passengers with convenient access to Australia and Singapore via the super hub in Hong Kong.” For our friends in North America, we invite you to join Bannikin Asia on July 10th for a Webinar on the Asian Adventure Traveller.
What: The Asian Adventure Traveller, Webinar
When: July 10th, 2018. 12pm – 1pm EST.
Who: Destinations, tour operators & accommodation providers keen to learn more about
the Asian Adventure Market
Why: Educate yourself about this fast growing and high-value market segment
Conducted By: Natasha Martin, Managing Director, Bannikin Asia
Click here to register: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2WYf-oikSi62kxzsfZUl6Q
Want to keep on top of the trends from the Asia Adventure Market?
Bannikin and 40urs help navigate the market by sharing the latest trends delivered exclusively through our WeChat group. Email natasha@bannikin.com to access the group and to learn more about what we’re doing in Asia.