The Keys to Capturing Asian Travelers – a special report

Presented by Barry Nakano of Pac Rim Marketing group, inc.

And Riki Suzuki of the San Diego Tourism Authority.

Held at the San Diego Courtyard Marriott, Depository Level on March 20^th, 2014.

 A special report by Jeremiah Magone. – Themarketingconnect.com –

To download this whole report as a PDF — click here —

A brief overview

• Japan overtook British travelers as the #1 international inbound market for San Diego in 2012 with (89,000 visitors) and that market share is continuing to grow due to Japan Airline’s new Tokyo – San Diego direct flight.  
• But with China’s 1.3 B population it will only take a small percentage increase in outbound travelers to dramatically raise from the current level of (50,000) visitors.
• Tourism from South Korea and Taiwan is also increasing aided by easier Visas.

• Japan is keen to sell San Diego.  Japan airlines offers all its passengers free tours of San Diego, including; behind the scenes tours at Petco Park, a Stone Brewery tour and the Seal Tour.  They also have a huge campaign of Youtube videos that hotels can easily use for their own advertising.
• Chinese tour groups are more price sensitive when it comes to hotels but that is likely because they are on shopping trips.  Retailers would be smart to get their attention before they arrive in San Diego.

Where is most of the business coming from?

• Booking.com, Expedia, Rakuten and receptive operators.
• However, before booking travelers do their own research through hotel sites, social media and Trip Advisor to plan their trip.

Keys to reaching these new visitors

• Hotels should establish a strong online presence in order to capture attention.  This includes landing pages and reservation forms.
• Hotels should monitor their reviews on Trip Advisor and respond as appropriate/ possible to show a commitment to their guests.
• Creating a blog in the native language is a great way to communicate cultural understanding and create special offers centered on key holiday periods in China, Japan and Korea.
• Hotels should also work with Receptive tour operators and wholesalers – through the SDTA to establish a marketing presence in Japan and China.
• Hotels should pay attention to who comes over.  Professional Asian athletes present a great marketing opportunity.
• There are a lot of MICE opportunities including; Sister City conventions, High School tours, Technical visitors.

Special characteristics

• Japan is a developed market.  Higher hotel rates are fine.  Visitors mostly come for golf, brewery tours, theme parks and sight-seeing.
• Chinese visitors look for the breakfast included option at hotels.  Hotels should offer rice pudding, dumplings and oolong tea.
• South Koreans travelers are comprised of FIT-overnight stays in SD and honeymooners.

Opportunities with the San Diego Tourism Authority

• Introductions to Receptive operators from LA – This will help you establish a marketing presence through their channels.  This is especially true in China as 1  receptive operator will generally work with 10 small travel agencies in China.
• Real news, such as renovations or a new service – not including rates or promotions – can be forwarded to Riki Suzuki to be included on the SDTA’s Facebook page.
• Joining sales trips to Japan is possible.

Quotes and discussion

• “If you want the business, you need to put the information in their language” – B. Nakano
• “Make a different message for each different market.”  Remove idioms and limit the fluff.  Idioms such as “finger lickin’ good”, “hit the hay” and “Last but not least” do not translate.  Also, you can’t simply translate your brochures with Google translate and hope for the best – the results won’t even be understandable to Asian readers.
•  “If you can come up with some way for them to complete the transaction on-line then that’s going to improve your business.”  Barry gave us an example.  If you went to France and had the choice between 3 different hotels.  2 with a booking process in French and 1 where you could do everything in English, don’t you think the choice would be obvious?  The same with our Asian visitors.
• “Above all – BE PATIENT.”  This is not a turn-key market.  To build trust you need to make your visitors feel welcome.  Culturally sensitive touches like; room slippers, Asian language newspapers, Chinese dumplings, hot tea, information in each Country’s own language or having an Asian staff members on hand to answer questions – goes a long way.

Marching orders

• Assemble your marketing materials.
• Make sure they’re done well in the native language.
• Display language flags on your website and make it easy for visitors to use, download and complete the booking process through those pages.
• Develop an online presence and reach visitors before they come over.
• Market to each group leading up to their national holidays.  (This can generate a series of tourism waves through-out the year)
• Gain long term trust by showing a commitment to, and understanding of, each nationality.

Economic data and cross references

The February 2014 economic report from VisitCalifornia.com for all of California. – link –

Good economic trending news from VisitCalifornia’s October 2013 report, p. 21 – Link –

International visitation and spending is double that of national visitors

Revenue estimates in San Diego from JAL’s DreamLiner

At 89% capacity, the DreamLiner brings an average of 195 visitors arriving in San Diego per day.

That’s 5,850 visitors per month.

According to VisitCalifornia (2013), on average, Japanese travelers to the Golden State stay7.6 days and spend $1,969 per visitor per trip ($259 per day).

What does that mean to San Diego?

Let’s cut that number in half to include business travelers, off season visitors and package tours to get 3.8 days.

Put these figures together for a rough economic estimate.

5,850 visitors per month X $259 per day X the average stay of 3.8 days = $5,757,570 and up – per month or $69 M per year.

Not bad for a conservative estimate.

VisitCalifornia’s Feb 2014 report confirms an over-all upward trend

– research dashboard link –

• Statewide hotel occupancy up 4.2%, December 2013 YOY
• Average room rates (ADR) up 4.4%.
• Year-end hotel occupancy (70.1%) and ADR ($130.44/night) were both records for California. 
• Air traffic growth also ended the year up from 2013 (+1.7% for domestic and +4.7% for international)
• LAX +4.8%; SFO +1.3%; San Diego +2.6%; SNA  +5.3%
• Overseas arrivals data are available through September, and were up 6.7% year over year for the year to date.  Growth was led by Asian markets (+9.2%).

The outlook for 2014 remains strong, as MMGY’s TravelHorizon survey from February indicated U.S. traveler sentiment and leisure travel intentions are at their highest since the survey was introduced in 2007

Tools to help you connect with your Japanese travelers

Here are 3 simple email templates that you can use to surprise your Japanese travelers, build trust, and repeat business.

Simply connect the corresponding letter from the English version to the Japanese version to compose your email.

Email for 1 time visitors

Dear _ex. John Smith-Sama  (You can use 「customer」 if you don’t know the person’s name)

Thank you for (A. visiting our store.  B. staying at our hotel, C. enjoying our park, D. enjoying a beautiful evening at our venue, E. dining with us).  We’re getting more and more Japanese visitors these days and, to show our appreciation, we would like to give you a %%% off coupon for your next visit.  If you post this coupon code ##########through your social media, we will even double its value the next time you come in our doors.  Just share your experience at our (A. store, B. hotel, C. park, D. venue, E. restaurant) with your friends, and show us that post the next time we see you.  We’re looking forward to serving you again!

Sincerely,

_____________

(A. Owner, B. President, C. Manager, D. Staff member)

(Company name)

(Contact details)

(Twitter account, social media, etc.)

Email for 1 time visitors

_ex.John Smith様（お客様のお名前がわからない場合は、「お客様」とお書きください）

我々の（A.お店へお越しいただき、Bホテルに宿泊いただき、C.施設へお越しいただき、D.会場での素敵な夜を満喫していただき、E.レストランでお食事をしていただき、）ありがとうございます。

日本人のお客様が増えています事への感謝の気持ちとして、次回ご訪問されます時のため%%%オフのクーポンをお渡ししたいと思います。このクーポンコード##########をお客様がソーシャルメディアを通して投稿された場合、クーポンの割引額を倍にさせていただきます。お友達に我々の（A.お店、B.ホテル、C.施設、D.会場、E.レストラン）での体験を是非シェアしてください。そして、その投稿を次回お会いする時に我々のスタッフにお見せください。またのご来店をお待ちしております！

敬具

_____________

（A.オーナー、B.社長、C.マネージャー、D.スタッフ）

（会社名）

（連絡先の詳細）

（ツイッター、ソーシャルメディアのアカウント等）

Invitation for new customers

Our (A. Spring, B. Summer, C. Fall, D. Winter) campaign is in full swing.

We are offering %%% off on all (A. merchandise, B. tours, C. rooms, D. tickets, E. Selected items, F. meals).  Please see some pictures of our new (A. inventory, B. locations, C. suits, D. tours, E. dishes) here!

{Photos here}

Hurry, this campaign ends (A. Januaray, B. February, C. March, D. April, E. May, F. June, G. July, H. August, I. September, J. October. K. November, L. December)  ……. day, 2013.

It’s easy to get to get here by bus.  Just take bus #…… from ……………………station.  (transfer at ………………. For bus #…….. .)

Only……… minutes from downtown.   We are located at (address)(Phone number).

Invitation for new customers 

（A.春、B.夏、C.秋、D.冬）のキャンペーン実施中です。

全ての（A.商品、B.ツアー、C.お部屋、D.チケット、E.セレクトアイテム、F.お食事）が%%%オフです。新しい（A.商品、B.ロケーション、C.スィート、D.ツアー、E.メニュー）のお写真を是非ご覧ください

{写真をこちらに}

このキャンペーンは（A. 1月、B. 2月、C. 3月、D. 4月、E. 5月、F. 6月、G. 7月、H. 8月、I. 9月、J. 10月、K. 11月、L. 12月）……日までですので、お急ぎください。

ご来店の際、バスを利用される事をお勧めします。…番バスを……駅から乗ってください。（….番バスの場合は……でお乗換えください）

ダウンタウンから……..分。当店は（住所）（電話番号）に位置しております。

Email to keep in touch

We just wanted to get back in touch with you to say “Thank you” for visiting us last time.

Here are some new pictures that we’ve just added to our photo gallery.

{pictures}

You should also know that starting next (Month – use options A-L, above) we will be having a

(A. 2-for-1 promotion on all entrees, B. 50% off sale on selected items, C.  couples only special, D. 60% special appreciation coupon, E. %%% discount on all purchases over $$$, F. 2-for-1 deal, good on all ((1. Merchandise, 2. Tours, 3. Reservations)) over $$$)

for all returning customers.

Just save this mail and show it to our staff the next time you’re in town.

Thanks again, and we hope that you had a great time with us on your last visit.

(A. With warm regards, B. Sincerely, C. Yours truly, D. All the best,)

{Name}

{Company name}

{Website, social network}

{Physical address and phone number}

{Sign up for our newsletter!  – Click here – }

 Email to keep in touch

今回はお越しいただき誠にありがとうございました。

我々のフォトギャラリーに新しく写真を追加いたしましたので、是非ご覧ください。

{写真}

そして、（月、オプションは上に記載されたA-Lから選択）には再度お越しいただいたお客様全員に（A. 全ての前菜一品分のご料金で二品ご提供、B. セレクトアイテム50%オフと、C.カップルでお越しの際は特別サービスと、D. 60%オフの感謝クーポンをご提供、E. $$$以上のお買い上げの場合%%%オフと、F.  （1. 商品、2. ツアー、3. 予約）$$$以上お買い上げの場合一つのお値段で二つご提供）させていただきます。

このメールを保存、またはプリントしたものをスタッフにお見せください。

またお会いできる日を楽しみにしております。

{お名前}

{会社名}

{ウェブページ、ソーシャルネットワーク}

{住所、電話番号}

{ニュースレターへの登録！- こちらをクリック – }

If you’d like to learn how to use these emails to:

• Create leads

• Build a referral sales network

• Launch holiday targeted campaigns

I can show you how.

I’ll be holding an informal discussion session over coffee on March 27^th in Little Italy from 12pm – 1pm.

Limit 5.  Please call me directly to make your reservation so I can get to know a little bit about your business and tailor my advice to your general marketing approach.

All the best,

Jeremiah Magone

Consulting Copywriter

Google

The Marketing Connect is a copywriting service that helps businesses get in touch with visitors from around the world.  We do this by providing persuasive sales pages, newsletters, direct response copy and content marketing – all in native level English, Spanish or Japanese.

We believe that if you’re able to stay in touch with your first time customers – then you can also look forward to seeing them year after year.  Visit themarketingconnect.com to learn more about lead nurturing.

P.S. If you want to understand Japanese business practices and cultural norms better, be sure to check out my articles on:

• How decisions are made in Japan
• The proper etiquette for exchanging business cards
• Who sits where in a Tokyo taxi
• How to properly eat sushi

*Any part of this report can be reproduced as long as it the link – “themarketingconnect.com – Copywriting services specializing in Japanese tourism” is added to the excerpt.

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