European airports roll out the red carpet for Chinese
travellers

27 January 2012 | Rising disposable income in
emerging economies such as the BRICs and the N-11s has allowed the rapidly
growing middle classes in these countries to start travelling by air. According
to IATA estimates, the number of air
travellers worldwide will grow with 800 million to 3.3 billion in 2014 (up from
2.5 billion passengers in 2009), with China alone accounting for more than a
quarter of this growth. Although air travel in China is still mainly on domestic
and regional routes, an increasing number of leisure and business travellers are
flying overseas.

‘Red carpet’
With Chinese outbound tourism recording more
than 20 percent annual growth in recent years and overseas spending by Chinese
tourists in 2011 expected to total around USD55 billion, airlines, airports and
tourism destinations around the world are rolling out the red carpet to make Chinese travellers feel more at
home.

Says Reinier Evers, founder of trend agency trendwatching.com, “China is the new emperor, and
outpaced companies, flailing nations and even broke monetary unions are looking
to the Chinese to bail them out. No wonder red carpets are being rolled out
wherever Chinese politicians and CEOs currently set foot. In 2012’s global
consumption arena we see a similar picture: department stores, airlines, hotels,
theme parks and museums, if not entire cities, around the world are going out of
their way to shower Chinese customers with tailored services and perks, and in
general, lavish them with attention and respect.”

Since there are around 160 cities in China with populations of over 1 million
people, airlines such as KLM (Chengdu, Xiamen, Hangzhou), Lufthansa (Shenyang,
Qingdao), Air France (Wuhan), Finnair (Chongqing), Qatar Airways (Chongqing) and
Etihad (Chengdu) have opened routes to second-tier cities in the country. These
airlines also employ Asian cabin crew on board and offer localized amenities
such as Chinese food and beverages, movies, music, newspapers and
magazines.

France is the top destination for
Chinese travellers in Europe with 910,000 arrivals in 2010, according to Euromonitor. Chinese
spent by far the biggest amount in France too – USD375mln, preferring to fork
out on goods – often luxurious ones – rather than hotels and food. In fact, a
majority of Chinese tourists visiting Paris stay in cheaper accommodation
outside the city and spend about USD1,800 each on shopping, 60 percent of their
travel budget, according to Global Blue, an international company that handles
refunds of taxes for international shoppers.

Chinese new year
To meet Chinese tourists flushing in
during the Chinese lunar new year (starting January 23), Aeroports de Paris has
launched several ‘welcome’ initiatives. In the baggage
delivery area, and when a flight from China lands, audio welcome messages are
broadcast in French, English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Hostesses of Aéroports de
Paris hand out a red envelope to each Chinese passenger, which contains a
welcome letter from the president of the Paris airport, a bilingual-marked Paris
map in English and in Chinese. At terminal 2E of the airport Chinese travellers
are also greeted by a red-colored arch-gate marked in Chinese calligraphy “Happy
Dragon Year.” As Chinese are ranked first among customer groups at CDG’s airport
duty-free shops, the airport has also employed more shop assistants who can
speak Chinese and has organized a Chinese language and etiquette training course
for its staff.

Amsterdam Schiphol
In recent years, Schiphol Airport has seen a
sharp rise in the number of flights to mainland China (39 a week in the summer
of 2011), as well as the number of passengers (600,000 passengers departed from
Schiphol to China in 2011, of which 295,000 were Chinese travellers). During the
month of January hostesses welcome Chinese passengers in Mandarin at the gate
upon arrival at Schiphol and hand out an airport map and shopping brochure in
Mandarin. A welcome and happy new year message is shown on digital screens. On
pier F a special showroom has been set up where Chinese passengers can obtain
tourist and product information from staff wearing “I speak Mandarin” buttons.
Many of the luxury retailers at the airport have also deployed Mandarin speaking
staff as well, around 50 in total. Schiphol says it is planning a similar
welcome initiative during the month of May, which is another peak travel period
for the Chinese.

Helsinki Airport
At Helsinki Airport, airport operator Finavia
together with home carrier Finnair celebrates the Chinese New Year from
23 January to 9 February with daily shows, such as live music, dragon dances and
Finnish-Chinese dance performances and traditional decorations at the gates.
Based on the geographical location of Helsinki, Finnair and Helsinki Airport are
positioning themselves as providing the shortest and fastest route between Asia
and Europe.

Wayfinding
Since for many Asian travellers, getting
around western airports can be difficult due to language problems (the
‘universal’ icons on airport signage that indicate exit, baggage reclaim or
toilets still lead to confusion among passengers), Helsinki and Copenhagen
airports have added Chinese and Japanese language to
their wayfinding signs (the only two airports in Europe to do so), while signs
at Helsinki Airport are also in Korean.

Taking a digital approach, Schiphol and CDG airport have teamed up to develop
a Chinese version of their mobile apps for iPhones
and Android-based devices. Developed with the goal to serve as a ‘virtual travel
companion’, Chinese passengers can use the app to find information in Mandarin
about flights, maps, public transport, baggage and
medical services, as well as special tax-free shopping deals.

The most innovative feature of the app is the use of optical character
recognition technology which lets passengers to translate the airport signs
directly into Mandarin via the camera of their smartphone (demos here and here). The app can translate 2,500 different signs
in Amsterdam and 7,500 signs in Paris.