Our team at 2008 PATA travel mart
Director's viewpoint feature on 2008 PTM

Are there any specific markets you’re targeting this year? And why?
Being an inbound supplier for Chinese market, we found that our traditional targeting markets such as America and Western Europe went pretty weak this year. The reason is that the US economy goes into recession and so does the Western European economy which is highly related to American economy. When recession comes, people’s income decreases, and therefore touring especially long-distance touring is the prime item that the clients cut from their cost lists. Therefore, early this year we started to focus on the Eastern European market and other new-rising countries such as India, Mexico etc. The reason for our promotion effort is that China is relatively a new and attractive destination and the people there especially people with high income have a very intense interest for China and Chinese culture. And we have handled much more tourists than ever from Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and etc.

Are there any "hot products" or "hot trends" on the market you' d like to mention?
Comparatively, we find that the Indian market and the Eastern European market have a stronger demand for China tour. And we also find Tibet is getting more and more popular among all the countries though Tibet tour is temporarily suspended because of the instability there. But we are very sure that the situation will be on the right track in the very near future.

Is there anything in your view that's not hot? If so, why?
Obviously, Beijing is not hot though it is the host city for 2008 Olympics. The Chinese government imposed a tremendously tight census on the people either Chinese or foreigners. This greatly infected the tourism as the tourists are very difficult to get visa. To make the situation worse, the accommodation, transport and many other costs are going much higher than usual. And we found that many of our counterparts have stopped selling China especially Beijing during and around this period.

With the price of oil continually rising, which is the bigger challenge for you? The higher air fares or the airline cutting routes and capacity?
The rising price of oil is not a big challenge for the tourism. Even the high air fare is not a problem. The airline cutting routes and capacity is temporary. The biggest problem for our company and we believe for the whole tourism industry is the recession and weak dollar.

Do you have a specific wish for 2008?
Firstly, to further expand our company profile among our potential clients.
Secondly, to improve the professionalism of Tang Dynasty Tours employees.
We believe the above two aspects are essential for our future and we are happy to have enough time to adjust our pace.

What is your outlook for 2009?
For China inbound market, 2009 is not a year of optimistic, neither for the whole world tourism market. The problem is not a specific destination country’s problem; the essential is that tourism always decreases with the economy. The world-wide economy instability will definitely affect tourism, sooner or later. Only when the negative factors of the world economy especially the US economy are gone, can we be optimistic for the future tourism market.