Tourism | ANALYSIS | Latin America looks to China’s tourism market with increasing interest

Tourism delegates from the Pacific Alliance countries meet at the Global Tourism Economy Forum in Macau last week. From left to right: Juan Pablo Carrillo, Juan Pablo Espinosa, Pablo Retamal, Jasbleidy Cobos and Carolina Ulloa

What does the China tourism market mean to Latin America and what can they take away from Macau’s experience in promoting cultural tourism? The Times interviewed some of the Pacific Alliance countries delegates at the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF), held in Macau last week, to investigate.
The Pacific Alliance is a tourism bloc in South and Central America with the specific purpose of forging closer relations with the countries of the Asia-Pacific region by making the bloc more attractive to various “global flows,” such as tourism. It currently consists of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru as full members, with a number of observers expected to join in the future.
The countries of the bloc share a common interest in attracting Chinese tourists, but this was the first time they attended the forum as a joint delegation – having to coordinate and adjust their policies accordingly.
Pablo Retamal, Asia Pacific Market Manager of Turismo Chile, explained that each country is currently dealing with a different quantity of tourists, and has different levels of infrastructure to accommodate them. For example, there is a large disparity between the 12,000 Chinese tourists visiting Chile each year and the 70,000 who visit Mexico – the latter figure, according to Retamal, is the result of direct flights that exist between China and Mexico.
The benefit in forming the bloc was to change the way that tourists (particularly Chinese tourists) view the member countries. Ultimately they aspire to be viewed as a “package destination” whereby visitors to Mexico or Peru will “trickle down” to Chile and other countries, and vice-versa.
Pablo Retamal was impressed with Macau’s establishment of its historic center as a World Heritage Site, and the effects that this is believed to have had on promoting cultural tourism. However, the manager was unsure whether this could be applied to Chile. He noted that Chile has a number of disadvantages compared with the MSAR, including the geographical size of the country and the fact that the South American nation does not share Macau’s unique position of having the “largest tourism market on its doorstep.”
He commended the general Chinese investment-led approach, however, saying that, where possible, it was not uncommon for Chinese businessmen visiting Chile for commercial purposes to bring his or her family along as tourists. This sort of “corporate tourism” has the “added bonus of not being season-dependent” as business visits operate throughout the year.
Colombian tourism representatives Jasbleidy Cobos and Juan Pablo Espinosa explained that Colombia primarily has two types of tourism resources: the natural world including landscapes; and the life experiences that the country has to offer. The latter type includes the Colombian cuisine, authentic experiences with indigenous peoples, and numerous carnivals and fairs. Espinosa joked that they have a carnival for everything – even the most mundane of activities, “like moving a chair.”
Jasbleidy Cobos observed that Colombia could learn a lot from Macau and from China, specifically in what she referred to as the “logistics of tourism.” She claimed that China is an expert in knowing “how to physically move such a large number of people from one place to another” – essentially referring to the infrastructure involved in promoting tourism, which could include rail and road services, but also the size of airports and availability of direct flights.
The question that permeated among all of the Latin American delegates was how to appeal to the Chinese tourism market. Pablo Retamal asked, “How do we market our cultural products and tourism attractions to the Chinese, as opposed to our traditional visitors from the West?”
Retamal, who claims that the Chinese are “time-poor” as tourists and therefore seek to maximize the number of locations visited, believes that marketing activities such as day trips to Antarctica from Chile’s southern tip might be part of the answer. He claims that these short visits to Antarctica are growing in popularity among Chinese visitors to the country, and are teaching the South Americans about what the Chinese are looking for in tourist destinations. Staff Reporter