To underline the importance of the brand image for branding a destination, this report follows an analysis of France's images and stereotypes as a destination. Where it has been defined that France benefits from a largely positive and attractive image, it has been seen that some weak points such as welcoming are damaging France's attractiveness.
Chinese outbound tourism has been closely observed for the past 10 years as all specialists are waiting to welcome these thousand million visitors ready to spend time and money over the globe. The need for analysis of Chinese outbound tourism by identifying key points such as their expectations could prove itself substantiated for the branding of a destination.
As some surveys and studies have been done on Chinese outbound tourism, using them provide the basis to confront the different findings. To bring to light France's particularity concerning Chinese tourists, it is necessary to organize interviews with professional of the tourism industry. This will give a strong insight to the current situation and help identify the problems.
It is interesting to put into relation Chinese tourists' desires and how France can respond to this demand. This report attempts to define France's advantages and weaknesses in terms of tourism destination; analyzing particularities of Chinese tourists is also a must for this dissertation and will enable to create a strategy to attract these desired tourists. By using branding theories such as the means-end chain, it will be possible to create such theories.
With more than 79 million visitors in 2006, France is the leading tourist destination (INSEE, 2006). As it is a platform in Europe, France has always been the top tourist country but things changed in 2007, when United-States ($85.7 billion) and Spain ($51.1 billion) took over the leadership in terms of tourism receipts and left France only with the "bronze medal" with $42.9 billion (one-third thanks to international arrivals) (Tourism observation Direction, 2007).
Still, there are some debates on the way to count the number of visitors; in 2000, the WTO defined tourism as "the activities developed by people who travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than one night and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited"." (United-Nations and WTO, 2000). This definition includes a notion of time and it is argued that France also counted people just crossing the country and not staying overnight.
No matter the definition, France is definitely a "tourism" country, on an environmental, cultural, or economical point of view. It will be detailed further that France's landscapes are highly diversified and attract visitors who want to admire mountains, seaside and modern cities at once. On the same basis, French culture is particularly well known worldwide with elements such as gastronomy, architecture or arts. Economically, more than 894,000 salary jobs are generated directly by tourism and tourism hospitality and transport parks are particularly well developed (Direction du Tourisme, 2008).
Tags: Branding France as a tourist destination, Profile of the Chinese tourist, French culture, french hospitality
[...] Increase the brochure and information notes in mandarin Better distribute the Maison de la France brochure on how to welcome Chinese Prepare the future with tourist offices of cities located around three hours of Paris (by rode or train). Not confuse them with Japanese or Korean Organize meeting with French families Organize visits of factories or modern farms Start to built special tour for second trip Appendix 3 "The 12 luxury sector" - Figures from "Histoire du Luxe en France" J. [...]
[...] Even if France is among the most desired destinations for Chinese tourists (their interest for shopping, luxury goods and fashion) and is the leading European destination in terms of time and generated revenue, Chinese customers have cultural differences and special expectations that can be disappointing when they come to visit France. A key aspect will be to have more brands for Chinese tourists so that they do not feel too displaced from China. As a result, the tour organized for Chinese should represent France's authenticity in a Chinese way. [...]
[...] The brand values Three main values have been chosen to brand France to attract Chinese travellers: Achievement: this category of the Chinese population is successful: people are happy with their career and lifestyle. Luxury is a privilege that they have worked for. Authenticity: the principal reflection of quality is the authenticity of a product. With the product France, we guarantee every step as part of an authentic French experience. Experience: traveling is a dream and the aim of it is to discover other cultures, landscapes, etc. [...]
[...] In 10 years, according to Paris Tourism board director Paul Roll, "The Chinese will be the first or second-ranked nationality among visitors to France, ahead of the British, the Americans or maybe the Japanese." This increase in the number of Chinese outbound travellers could allow France to attract close to 1.4 million tourists from now until 2020, an increase from the current number of 100,000. France's image with respect to Chinese One of the aims of this study is also to underline the fact that a country has to be branded nearly in the same way as a car or a shower gel tube and by consequence a country can be considered as a product. [...]
[...] The agreement between 27 European Union countries and China will lead to a sharp increase in the number of Chinese nationals visiting the continent, but 300,000 to 400,000 already came to France on professional or family visas last year. (International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism, Beijing 2007). Chinese Tourist Particularity As an introduction, it is said that "swimming, driving BMW cars and holidaying in France are among the preferred lifestyle choices for China's wealthiest people" (Survey AFP, Jan 2008). According to this survey done by ‘Agence France Presse', France is considered the best foreign travel destination by the millionaires surveyed, of which 104 have a net wealth of over US$10 million. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
