2) The top activities for Chinese travellers are shopping (luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Hermes are their favourites), visiting landmarks, gambling and golfing.

Nai-Lin Yeh, a guide who organises tours for Chinese tourists in the UK, says: “In China the branded goods are very expensive and they worry about counterfeits. When they go shopping they want to spend a lot.”

If your property is near a mall, you’re in luck – you’ll already be a top destination for Asian tourists. But what if you’re in a more remote location? Organising shopping tours for your travellers and publicising widely is a good idea. Themed shopping trips (e.g. ‘Luxury Brands of Abu Dhabi’) are a big hit, even amongst younger Chinese travellers, who are more prone to take more leisurely holidays than their older counterparts.

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And make sure your in-property shops are good and offer luxury brands and extended hours.

3) Get China Ready and Accredited – a quality assurance accreditation system for Chinese travellers, China Ready provides Chinese tourists with vendors and products who are certified to provide a pre-determined level of cultural awareness, understanding and service quality. More and more Chinese customers are looking for the China Ready logo when booking accommodation and travel tours. China Ready also provides marketing and connects foreign companies directly with Chinese customers.

4) Provide basic services that many hotels seem to overlook: allow Chinese guests to pay via their preferred methods: China Union pay or Allpay.

The in-property food options are one of the most important aspects of Chinese guests both choosing a hotel and rating their stay highly. This is still the F&B option that Chinese guests spend the most money on when abroad. And 73% of respondents choose a restaurant based on its China-specific offerings.

Providing Mandarin- and Cantonese-speaking hotel staff (at least one on shift at all times) and Chinese-language travel and tour guides was lacking in most hotels according to 54% of respondents – this was the area most-marked for improvement by Chinese guests (80% saying it needed to be improved in hotels).

And though many hotels, even in the Gulf, are moving away from offering smoking rooms, 40% of Chinese guests in a recent Hotels.com poll said that hotels rarely provide them.

5) And lastly: focus your China-ready energy on your three- and four-star properties, as these are still overwhelmingly the most popular amongst the China outbound demographic, with only 17% opting for five-star choices. Price is still not an issue for most Chinese travellers and Dubai is still the city where they’re paying the most per night ($300).

What are your experiences with the China inbound guests to our region? Weigh in on Twitter and Facebook.