Marketing Strategy for the Expatriate Market, Jinan City, Shandong Province, China
In Partnership With:
Shandong Culture and Tourism Commission, Jinan Culture and Tourism Bureau, Qingdao Culture and Tourism Bureau
Duration:
13 – 20 November 2024
Jinan City + Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China
Context
With support from the Shandong Culture and Tourism Commission, UN Tourism is collaborating with the Jinan Culture and Tourism Bureau on an International Tourism Destination project for Jinan City. In phase I of the project, an International Tourism Destination Plan for Jinan City had been prepared. The final version of the plan was handed over to the Jinan Authorities at the start of the mission in November 2024. The main objective of the mission was to launch phase II of the project, which focuses on developing a source market strategy to attract expatriates living in China to Jinan City, benefitting from Jinan’s prime location between Beijing and Shanghai and its good accessibility by bullet train.
The overall objective of the Jinan Expatriate Marketing Strategy is to provide a strategic orientation and implementation blueprint to position, market and promote Jinan City as a ‘must visit’ destination for foreigners living in Beijing and Shanghai. It is presumed that by increasing awareness of Jinan as an ‘authentic’ tourist destination within easy reach of China’s political and commercial centers, there are opportunities to attract foreigners residing in China, as well as their visiting friends and relatives. Capturing and attracting this market will set in motion a trend of increased visitations to Jinan by other international visitor markets.
At the outset of the mission in Jinan, an inception meeting took place with key project stakeholders in the City to clarify and reach consensus on the expected outputs and the detailed planning of activities for phase II of the project. During their mission in Jinan, the expert team proceeded to hold focus group meetings with representatives from the Jinan City tourism marketing department, other tourism institutes and private sector players to gain valuable insights on the tourism product of Jinan, the current marketing activities undertaken by the Government and the private sector to attract expatriates to Jinan, and the opportunities and challenges to take into account when developing the marketing strategy for the expatriate market. During the mission, field inspection visits were also undertaken to selected tourism sites in Jinan to assess potential tourism products to promote to the expatriate market.
The mission to Jinan was combined with a short visit by the UN Tourism team to Qingdao, which is only a two-hour train ride away from Jinan and the largest city in Shandong Province with a wealth of cultural and natural tourist attractions, including a unique historical centre with many buildings designed and constructed by the Germans, numerous attractive beaches, and Mount Laoshan, a sacred Taoist mountain offering breathtaking views of the coastline and ancient temples. The Qingdao Culture and Tourism Bureau had expressed interest to explore possibilities to collaborate on the development of an international tourism marketing strategy for the City, and the mission served to prepare a detailed proposal for this possible new project in Shandong Province.
Highlights
During the focus groups meetings in Jinan, tourism stakeholders stressed the need to build on the good connectivity by train from Beijing and Shanghai to Jinan and to establish connections with the many Embassies, Consulates and international organizations and companies in the two cities. MICE products were identified as a valuable starting point to attract more expatriates to Jinan, as well as weekend breaks, possibly in combination with visits to the nearby Mount Taishan, the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Shandong Province.
A detailed analysis was made of the presence of Jinan Tourism in promotional and social media activities targeting expatriates in China, and opportunities were identified for further strengthening this. Meetings were planned with leading travel agents in Beijing and Shanghai as well as with selected international associations, organizations and enterprises in the cities. In addition, a survey of select expatriates living in Beijing and Shanghai is conducted to understand travel behaviors and attitudes.
Jinan city is referred to as the ‘Spring City’, because of its unique 72 artesian springs inside the ancient Ming Fu City that along with Quancheng Square, the Baotu Spring Park and the Daming Lake form the heart of greater Jinan City today. Jinan is perceived as a very authentic Chinese city, and its main product of the springs combined with the ancient city provide good opportunities to offer tours to Jinan that are highly complementary to the cultural and natural attractions that foreigners can visit elsewhere in China.
Stay Tuned
Findings of the meetings and field research will be used to prepare an analysis of the current market situation of expatriate visits to Jinan and to develop the marketing strategy for the expatriate source market, including ‘actionable’ recommendations for marketing and promoting Jinan to expatriates living in Beijing and Shanghai. The proposed actions will be organized into a detailed three-year action plan that the Culture and Tourism Bureau can follow. To conclude the project a one-day seminar for local participants will be organized in April 2025, in which both the Jinan International Destination Plan and the draft Jinan Tourism Marketing Strategy for Expatriates will be presented.
Based on the meetings and field visits held in Qingdao, a proposal for the new tourism marketing strategy for Qingdao City has been prepared and will be shared with the Shandong and Qingdao Authorities to make further arrangements to collaborate on this new project.