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Travel Influencers - China - December 2020

OVERVIEW
What you need to know
Key issues covered in this Report
Covered in this Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The market
Holiday spending picked up, but overall sentiment is still cautious
Figure 1: Holiday spending changes, July to December 2020
Attractive destinations evolve
Videos gain rising importance in stimulating travel inspiration
Themes to watch for travel content marketing
Moral values will drive inspiration source choice and purchasing decisions
Shorten ‘distance’ between brands and audience
Utilise live streaming wisely
The consumer
Travel participation is high
Figure 2: Destinations for the latest trip, generated by open-end, October 2020
Fame of the attractions is the key source of inspiration
Figure 3: Source of destination inspiration, October 2020
Not yet a dominating player in offering local cultural inspirations
Figure 4: Information channel for travel activities, October 2020
Consumers judge influencers by moral values
Figure 5: Ideal characteristics of travel influencers, October 2020
Short video apps lead watch and conversion rate in live streaming commerce
Figure 6: Travel live streaming commerce – Watch, conversion and products bought by channel, October 2020
Transparency in communication can be the next differentiator
Figure 7: Attitudes towards travel-related content and purchasing, October 2020
What we think
ISSUES AND INSIGHTS
Moral values will be the next catalyst to influence travel decision and purchasing
The facts
The implications
Figure 8: Nike’s shoe recycling project in China, 2020
Build trust with transparency to motivate consumer affiliation
The facts
The implications
Strengthen competitiveness by offering travel inspiration from a cultural perspective
The facts
The implications
Figure 9: The British Museum live streamed guided tours on Fliggy and Taobao, 2020
THE MARKET – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Holiday spending sentiment remains cautious
Emerging destinations in west regions
Videos play an important role in travel decision making
Key themes to watch in travel content marketing 
MARKET OVERVIEW
Holiday spending recovers, but caution remains
Figure 10: Holiday spending changes, July to December 2020
Popular destinations remain the same but new choices are emerging 
Figure 11: Short videos casted by Dingzhen to promote Litang tourism, 2020
Prefer communications directly from brands to secondary sources
Figure 12: Preferred ways to receive product recommendation and promotion, 4 December 2020
Video contents broadly consumed 
Video display has been the key word for destination marketing 
Mafengwo focuses on ‘videolisation’ of travel guides 
TikTok strengthened awareness in travel inspiration 
Figure 13: TikTok’s Cloud Tourism Bureau live streaming, 2020
Fliggy invited people to virtually tour outbound destinations 
Figure 14: Live streaming of European travel destinations on Fliggy, 2020
The rise of ‘live-commerce’ for selling travel services
Figure 15: Live streaming commerce by various players in travel market, 2020
Themes to pay attention to when marketing travel contents to Chinese consumers
Moral values influence favourability and purchasing decision
Consumers want to hear direct voice from brands 
Live streaming commerce is a double-edged sword
Impact of COVID-19 on travel content marketing and purchasing
Figure 16: Summary of impact of COVID-19 on travel content marketing and channels
THE CONSUMER – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Famous attractions are a key driver of destination choices 
Short video apps are competitive in travel influencing and live streaming commerce
Price factors stimulate conversion in live streaming commerce 
Opportunity to compete via offering cultural inspiration 
Moral values guide people’s choices of travel influencers 
Demand for transparency in marketing content
TRAVEL PARTICIPATION
Easily accessible places are popular choices for people’s latest trip
Figure 17: Destinations for the latest trip, generated by open-end, October 2020
Overall, travel participation is high 
Figure 18: Travel participation – Generated by open-end, by age and gender, October 2020
Figure 19: Travel participation – Generated by open-end, by demographic, October 2020
Families with children are key outbound travellers 
Figure 20: Outbound travel participation – Generated by open-end, by demographic, October 2020
SOURCE OF DESTINATION INSPIRATION
Famous attractions are the destination ambassadors
Figure 21: Source of destination inspiration, October 2020
Videos can ‘plant’ outbound destinations on people’s wish lists 
Figure 22: Travel destination inspiration, by destinations of latest trip, October 2020
Figure 23: Travel destination inspiration – TV drama or movies, by age and gender, October 2020
INFORMATION CHANNELS FOR TRAVEL ACTIVITIES
Opportunities to stand out in local cultural inspiration
Figure 24: Information channel for travel activities, October 2020
Engage Gen-Zers: social media for high tier cities, while mainstream for lower tier cities
Figure 25: Information Channel for travel activities, by demographic, October 2020
IDEAL CHARACTERISTICS OF TRAVEL INFLUENCERS 
Moral values come into play 
Figure 26: Ideal characteristics of travel influencers, October 2020
Social responsibility should be highlighted for purchasing platforms 
Figure 27: Ideal characteristics of travel influencers, by information channel usage, October 2020
PURCHASING VIA LIVE STREAMING
Short videos take the lead in live streaming commerce 
Figure 28: Watch rate and conversion of travel live streaming commerce, October 2020
Figure 29: Products bought via live streaming on selected channels, October 2020
Small-value products most purchased 
Figure 30: Products bought via live streaming commerce, October 2020
Purchase is mainly motivated by deal-seeking
Figure 31: Attitudes towards live streaming commerce among live stream shoppers, October 2020
KOLs more effective in promoting vacation homestays than hotels
Figure 32: KOL’s influence on purchasing accommodation on live streaming – hotels vs vacation homestay, October 2020
ATTITUDES TOWARDS TRAVEL-RELATED CONTENTS AND PURCHASING
Reserved towards social media interaction
Figure 33: Attitudes towards social media interaction, October 2020
Transparency could become the next differentiator in travel content marketing
Figure 34: Attitudes toward travel influencing content, October 2020
Figure 35: Attitudes towards travel influencing content, ads and product presentations, by demographic, October 2020
Figure 36: Attitudes towards travel influencing content – Pay for authentic travel guides, by demographic, October 2020
Figure 37: Top five actions associated with good impressions of a brand/company, 8 October 2020
Figure 38: Attitudes towards travel ads on social media, by travel information channel usage, October 2020
Figure 39: Attitudes towards paying for authentic content, by travel information channel usage, October 2020
High income males aged 25-29 are most easily attracted to good deals
Figure 40: Attitudes towards stockpiling travel products, by age and gender, October 2020
Figure 41: Young male’s attitudes towards stockpiling travel products, October 2020
MEET THE MINTROPOLITANS
MinTs in lower tier cities are more influenced by destinations filmed in variety shows
Figure 42: Source of destination inspiration, by consumer classification, October 2020
Figure 43: Source of destination inspiration among Mintropolitans – Filmed in TV programmes, by city tier, October 2020
Hotels and attraction tickets: improve live-commerce conversion by targeting MinTs
Figure 44: Product purchased via live streaming, by consumer classification, October 2020
Figure 45: Mintropolitan’s attitudes towards live streaming commerce, October 2020
Figure 46: Attitudes towards pricing of live streaming commerce, by consumer classification, October 2020
MinTs crave transparency in content marketing
Figure 47: Attitudes towards transparency in travel content, by consumer classification, October 2020
APPENDIX – METHODOLOGY AND ABBREVIATIONS
Methodology
Abbreviations
APPENDIX – OTHER DATA
Purchasing via live streaming
Figure 48: Purchasing via live streaming, October 2020

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