ST GEORGE’S, Grenada (CMC) — Officials in the region’s tourism industry have been urged to undertake initiatives that will directly target  China’s outbound tourism market.

Addressing a session on the “Who are the New Explorers” during the 2017 State of the Tourism Industry Conference in Grenada today, Chris Spring of the US-based China Ni Hao marketing company said that chief among the recommendations is for websites and other marketing activities to be the Chinese language.

“If there is nothing about you on the Internet you will not be known,” said Spring.

He also recommended that all tourism promotional agencies including the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) install Chinese language converters on their websites.

He said presently, the Chinese know little or nothing about the Caribbean.

“There is very little information on the websites in China on the Caribbean,” he said when asked to share his opinion on the reason why more Chinese are not choosing to vacation in the region.”

Spring also suggested that the various sectors within the industry should ensure that they can communicate with Chinese nationals in their own language and at the same conduct business efficiently with the use of technology.

“The important reason for them to visit, the thing that will make their trip attractive is if there is somebody who can show them around and who can do that in Chinese,” he said while confirming that more and more Chinese tourists are booking cruises that take them to the Northern Caribbean and Mexico.

“And more and more of them will want to come back…cruising was the thing that developed United States tourism in the Caribbean and so the same thing is what we going to see happen with the Chinese,” he said.

Spring said a significant number of Chinese students are studying in the United States and that should be the gateway for attracting these young professionals who are seeking vacation outside of the North American country.