Adventure travel is the future of the Chinese travel industry

By Matt Berna, General Manager - Global Sales 

Over the last 25 years, I have attended more than 30 trade shows, typically as a seller promoting our range of small group adventures.  During this time, I participated in a handful of smaller, focused shows that targeted inbound Chinese tour operators. Product discussions typically revolved around very short, sleepless and standard itineraries, with ‘less than cost’ price points as the main determiner of winning the business.

This experience left an impression on me that the burgeoning Chinese outbound market would be slow to change and closed to my suggestions for product development.  Travelling in large groups provided the main value proposition. As such, I had no intentions of attending any of the China outbound shows as I simply didn’t feel that the industry was ready for our immersive style of travel.  In my mind, the Chinese outbound tour industry was 20 years behind the rest of the world.   Well, that opinion has changed.

I recently returned from a trip to meet with our business partners at ITB China in Shanghai. From my previous experience with this market, I was not prepared for what I was about to experience:  conference rooms offering a packed schedule of presentations on product innovation, sustainability, responsible business practices and authentic travel experiences, all core pillars of the adventure travel industry.

During one session about creating ‘real’ travel experiences, panellists spoke about product customisation and providing authentic experiences for their clients; in this case, groups of families travelling together.  At another, I listened to CEOs discuss the importance of the adventure travel industry to engage and educate Chinese travellers.  It is also becoming apparent that the growing number of millennials that are travelling are more open and impressionable to change for the better when it comes to travelling responsibly.

Chinese tour operators are actively searching out new experiences for their expanding customer base and can take advantage of the learnings gained by the global adventure travel community (after all, we know much more about responsible travel now than we did twenty years ago!) meaning they can quickly embed this knowledge into their own product development strategies.

At ITB, I sat through a ceremony where more than 20 major Chinese tour operators, led by Ctrip, China’s largest and arguably most influential OTA, took an oath to prohibit the promotion or selling of any illegally sourced wildlife products and have employed some clever digital technology to support the efforts of their wildlife focused NGOs and other conservation partners.  Billboards with popular Chinese actors posted at airports and customs halls are used to drive home the message in a country that seems to be responding and are quickly adapting their buying behaviours.   There were discussions on banning plastics, carbon offsetting and other sustainable business initiatives, and wildlife conservation and cultural exploration were key themes throughout the show.  

I was excited to be able to participate in a panel discussion on the future of adventure travel in China, hosted by Jake Finifrock, ATTA’s Regional Director for Asia.   It was a perfect opportunity to talk to the intrinsic value this style of travel provides to local communities and the environments in which they visit, as well as leaving a positive and lasting impression on the visitors. It was also a chance to share the panel’s personal connections with adventure travel and how we believe these experiences will shape the future of travel in China.

The Chinese travel trade, including its biggest tour operators, are dedicated to changing the world’s perception of the ‘typical’ Chinese traveller.  These operators are looking to the wider industry for inspiration and direction on how to create travel experiences that operate in a more responsible and sustainable manner.  

The message? Don’t be surprised to see small groups of Chinese travellers, interacting with local business owners, enjoying a ranger guided hike, or eating in small restaurants and spending their nights in family run businesses.   They are curious and very keen to change how the world perceives them, and I for one am hugely excited about bringing adventure travel to the Chinese market.