New Chinese Tourism Numbers Highlight Multilingual Opportunities

With visas easier to get and more and more Chinese using social media and the Internet, offering multilingual web content and social media creates opportunities, streamlining access to a growing pool of Chinese tourists.

Chinese Tourism to Canada Increasing

Chinese tourists are a growing demographic for the Canadian tourism market. Canada’s relative proximity to China, and the many existing ties between the two countries make it a natural destination for the newly affluent Chinese who are taking advantage of easier to obtain tourist visas and growing economic power to go abroad. Since 2010, the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) reported that the amount of Chinese tourists has been steadily increasing for 27 consecutive months. In the first four months of the year, the CTC has recorded a 25.9% growth in overnight trips from China to Canada.

Within British Columbia, unsuprisingly, Vancouver is a big draw; Tourism Vancouver sees visitor numbers increasing this year by almost 2%. Vancouver is well-equipped for the influx of Chinese tourists due to its thriving Chinese community. The ethnically diverse city is home to the second-largest Chinatown in North America. But for businesses hoping to capitalize on these opportunities, capturing this audience can be hard when there’s a language barrier.

Through website translation and multilingual social media you can make it easier for Chinese visitors to understand your promotional and marketing messages, exposing your business to a wider audience with significant growth potential.

Snow Sports Building Momentum

Another emerging Chinese demographic: skiers and snowboarders. The CTC reports in their Global Tourism Watch (GTW) that Ski/Snowboard destinations are a relatively untouched niche that can draw Chinese tourists. Ski resorts within China are growing, but even their finest facilities do not match those found in Canada. In fact, 14% of those surveyed in 2011 listed skiing and/or snowboarding as part of their dream Canadian vacation.

The GTW shows that Chinese tourists are already aware of Canada’s facilities, mentioning those at Whistler, Jasper, and Banff. While those destinations have successfully catered to global visitors in the past, the growth in Chinese tourism definitely offers room for new opportunities, especially for those companies making it easy for Chinese visitors to do online research by offering content in their native language.

Trip Planning via Social Media

In order to attract Chinese tourists, the CTC notes further steps that can be taken. Chinese citizens are no longer using the conventional methods to plan their vacations, travel agencies are being replaced by ever-increasingly popular social media outlets. While the language barriers are not as big of a problem in the big cities, they can become a problem in the more remote resort areas. Increasing language accessibility would be an important first step for ski resorts across the country.

Translations Key to Multilingual Marketing

LAT’s accurate and effective translations can be the tool that gives you a competitive advantage in reaching this new market first. Whether you require content translation for your website or social media, language training for employees, or multilingual dubbing or subtitles for your current video and  multimedia resources, our trained and accredited translators can give you a multilingual advantage.