Remember these things when
serving Chinese guests
Presentation prepared for ”Arktisuudest potkua
elintarvikevientiin – seminaari”
Xing Liu
[email protected]
© Natural
Natural Resources
Resources Institute
Institute Finland
Finland
©
Agenda
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Fact
Why Chinese are in Lapland?
Chinese vistors in Lapland – some of their common features
Who are the Chinese travellers in Lapland?
How they travel?
What do they expect from the Lapland?
What Chinese like about Finnish food?
What Chinese dislike about Finnish food?
Some things bearing in mind when serving food to Chinese
guests
• Back home from Lapland
• Some suggestions
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Fact
• Chinese outbound tourism is exploding, reaching 120 million
times record high, continuing to maintain double-digit growth.
• Group travelers account for the most. Individual travelers (FIT
travelers and small groups) are growing rapidly with
digitalization development.
• Chinese are currently the fifth largest nationality among
foreign visitors in Finland in 2016.
• Lapland recorded double rise in overnight stays by visitors
from China and Hongkong in 2016.
• The total demand for traveling in Finland will grow by over
30% (WTTC) in the next couple of years.
• Alitrip, owned by Alibaba, alone promised 50,000 visitors to
Finland in 2017, and as many as 6-8,000,000 visitors,
primarily via Helsinki, to Europe in 2020.
• Chinese are the most generous tourists, consumption per
capita is the highest ( 379 euro vs. Russian144 euro in 2016)
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Why they are in Lapland
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Santa clause
Unique nature (Aurora, space, pureness, lake, ice and snow )
Many years marketing effort from VisitFinland, VisitLapland,
travel agencies and tourism industry participants in Lapland.
Last year Alibaba’s promotion and TV show destination
Matured route combination, which is unique, efficient, relaxing,
fun, life experience and price/quality ratio is high.
Safe, friendly but mysterious environment
Easy transport connection (Finnair to many cities in China)
Physical relaxation
Emotional (Romantic, life experience)
Personal reasons (visiting friends and relatives in other cities)
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Chinese visitors in Lapland – some common features
• Price/quality ratio is key, including food, accormodation, transport,
sightseeing and route combination
• They don’t speak good English (Local guides/team leader are
important)
• They can be generous and also stingy
• Willing to pay high price for unique products
• Very price sensitive with similar products (When comparasion is
possible)
• They are loud – Imagine how to distinguish yourself from 1.3 billion
population
• They are shy and cautious
• They are not straightforward even when they are not satisfied.
• They are proud and patriotic
• They are curious but safety is priority
• They like taking photos and videos, and sharing them in social
media (wechat mostly)
• They are dynamic but also risk averter
• They are trend followers (Which celebrities have been?)
• They focus on ”the most, the unique, the difference”
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Who are the Chinese travellers in Lapland?
• Middle class and upper middle class
• Some travelling in a business group or a family group (under 6
people)
• Most of them are formed in big groups (10-40)
• Travelling as a group is always equipped with a tour leader,
also sometimes local guides.
– Tourist leader has big power to decide what to do and what
to eat during the free time
– They are travelling around, change places almost
everyday!!!!
• Most of them have been somewhere else than in Finland
• Individual travelers are increasing, most of them are young or
middle aged and no language barriers.
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How they travel?
• Travel agencies organized in China (Alitrip, Ctravel, Cits,
Quanjing, Zhongxin etc. )
• Collaborated by Finnish local travel agencies in Finland
• Visiting friends/relatives
• Stay in Finland for 2-8 days
• Tight schedules
• Stay in one city for maximum 2 days
• Often go to other Nordic countries such as Sweden, Norway,
Iceland.
• Classic route to Lapland :Helsinki-Ivalo-Saariselkä-LeviLuosto-Rovaniemi-Kemi-Helsinki 8 days
• 7 Finnish breakfasts, 6 Chinese meal, and 4 Finnish lunch, 5
hotel dinners.
– Good chance to try many local cousins.
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What do they expect from the Lapland
– What to see? – Nature + programme
• Santa Clause
• Polar light
• Ice + Snow
• Safaris
– What to eat?
• Chinese travelers often prefer Chinese food when they travel. (cost
efficient + familiarity)
• Occasional local food is something extra, but not everyday…
• It does not apply as much to the independent travelers.
• For these individual travelers, eating food is not only about tasting
new cuisines, it is also about bragging and sharing the experiences
with the peers back home, who are also chihuos (foodies).
• With the help of smartphones and WeChat, pictures of the various
dishes are posted online, leading often to the demand to serve all
courses of a dinner at the same time.
• Favorite branded products later will be asked to buy from local
guides, local Chinese ”Daigo” or from ”Taobao”(No.1 intenet shop
owned by Alibaba in China)
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What Chinese like about Finnish food
Healthy
Natural
Organic
Clean
Safe
Wild
Seasonal
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What Chinese dislike about Finnish food
• Lack of variaties
– Reindeer meat with mashed potato and sausages
are provided everywhere…..
• Food presentation is not very attractive
– Chinese consider good food with three elements
”color, flavor, and taste”.
• Too creamy
– Most of Chinese are intolerant to dairy products
• Drinks served with meal are cold
– Many Chinese want to have hot drinks (tea or hot
water during the meal)
• Too hard to chew – Chinese are used to eat soft
breads.
• Lack of spices (please let Chinese take their spices)
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Some things bearing in mind when serving to Chinese
guests
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Package and appearance is step 1 for the success…
Hot water (not warm but hot) is a must to be prepared.
“Medium raw” means different with different age group of Chinese….
Silence is not in the Chinese dictionary, so be prepared.
Patience is something Chinese tourists do not have. i.e. Service
should be puncture and quick.
Menu design with pictures would be preferred
Something misunderstanding, contact local guides/tour leaders.
Wechat is overwhelming marketing tools for individual customers
– Download wechat for your products introduction, it is as important
as you have Facebook in Finland…
Working closely with local tourist agency will bring many benefits
other than just tourism industry: Food industry, forestry industry,
fashion, sports, etc.
How to collaborate efficiently with local guides/tourist leaders are
crucial for products improvement
– Incentives, commission system and long-term friendship
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Back home from Lapland
• They could be the best potential customers of Finnish
products:
– Their income can afford Finnish premium food
– They are impressed by what they have seen, they have
done and what they have eaten and drunk.
– They could provide ”first filter” feedback for marketing
purposes
• How to utilize these visitors for our product development can
be studied and pay more attention to
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Some suggestions to Lapland
• Other parts than filets of reindeer can be tried in the menu
(tongues, hearts, and livers)
– In China, reindeer is considered as “Whole body is
treasure”.
• Special local food shops can be established in Rovaniemi?
• “Night foodie market during high seasons” in Rovaniemi?
• Ravintola päivät more frequently? (Nov-Jan)
• Driving license in China cannot be used in Finland but other
Nordic countries, any simple solution?
• Free public transportation to Santa Clause village during high
seasons, more stops auction for the line, can be operated by
private companies
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Thank you!
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