China Economic Review
Charting China’s changing economic terrain · Since 1990
Majority of Chinese travelers use Internet to plan trips abroad
September 6, 2009
The latest Nielsen China Outbound Travel Monitor survey found that the Internet is the hub that Chinese travelers turn to when planning their trips abroad.
In their latest survey Nielsen found that the majority of Chinese travelers turn to the Internet to search for destination websites ahead of their leisure trips.
After choosing a destination, nearly half (48%) of China’s outbound travelers turned to online reviews and forums to fine-tune their itineraries. They converse via social networks and message boards with others who have made a similar trip or live in the country they are to visit.
Nan Nan, marketing manager for travel search engine Qunar.com, said, "Word of mouth is the major factor for travelers when picking airline tickets or hotels. For them, strangers are more reliable than advertisements."
Which is a terrible and accurate indictment of travel advertising.
Online advertising is more effective than advertising in traditional mediums such as radio, television and print. The Nielsen survey found that travelers were much more likely to recall Internet advertising for travel destinations compared to travel advertising on other mediums. Almost 70% of respondents remembered seeing travel ads on the Internet.
BizReport.com reported that PATA director Strategic Intelligence Centre John Koldowski said,"With these results showing that the largest proportion of China’s outbound travelers — both business and leisure — use the Internet as a pre-trip information tool, it makes sense that marketers should leverage that usage to increase the visibility of their own products and deals."
And, no, the writer is not sure what it means but it is certainly impressive.