Venture Sprout

Maggie Rauch of TravelDailyNews and TravelDaily.cn reported on the 2009 China Travel Distribution Summit and was kind enough to include some of my reflections on the travel market. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

At China Travel Daily’s recent China Travel Distribution Summit in Shenzhen, examples were lacking of social media campaigns that delivered clear ROI in travel search. While some players have been cautious with campaigns, others who have used social media haven’t found good ways to measure its effectiveness. But consumers in China will soon demand more, says Elliott Ng, founder of Uptake Networks, a Palo Alto-based company whose Uptake.com combines travel search and social media. Ng recently visited China, stopping in three cities including Shenzhen, where he attended China Travel Daily’s summit. Ng was surprised at the pace of change in the travel market here, and says he could see it leading to new tools for travelers that leverage search and social media.

“The Chinese travel market is growing so fast that consumers are going to start demanding the same things that travelers have elsewhere in the world. That means that people can start taking some of these social media models that work elsewhere, and copying them or being inspired by them.”

In his presentation at the China Travel Distribution Summit, Ng shared what he sees as the top trends affecting social media, search and travel in the United States. Among the half dozen trends he named, Ng included: “Social media creates new ways for travel professionals and enthusiasts to affect travel decisions.”

As stated in the article, my presentation was really about global trends in travel technology and social media, not specifically about China. While I think the execution of various marketing tactics are different in China, the general principles are the same as they are around the world. Of course, execution is where great companies win and mediocre companies lose, especially in China.

I’ve been watching the China market since 2005, so I don’t mean to come off as a “fresh of the boat” Westerner staring at gleaming high rise buildings and “face” infrastructure projects. I mean to convey what I love so much about China, that one can never take last year’s perception of the market and apply it toward next year’s reality!

When it comes to consumption, don’t underestimate how fast Chinese consumers are learning to consume. Travel companies need to provide services and products aimed for tomorrow’s Chinese consumer, not today’s or yesterday’s. The happy conclusion I’ve come to is that the Chinese market has a long way to go from where it is today, and many lessons from Western markets can be applied (to some degree, and with localization) to the rapidly evolving Chinese market.