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China Tourism Tuesday Episode 30
12 Plays24 days ago
Episode 30 of China Tourism Tuesday sits down with Samuel Yu, Senior Marketing Executive for Seychelles Tourism in China, for a wide-ranging conversation on how destinations are navigating a fast-changing China outbound market as we move into 2025 and 2026.
From Seychelles’ positioning philosophy in China to key growth segments like MICE, social media strategy, and how tourism boards read economic and geopolitical signals in real time, this episode offers practical insight into how smart destinations stay relevant - and resilient - in a shifting landscape.
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Transcript
Introduction to China Tourism Tuesday
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome to China Tourism Tuesday, a discussion of marketing international tourism destinations in the outbound China tourism market. My name is Charles Boutain and I'm coming to you from Shanghai, China.
00:00:14
Speaker
Good day everybody. My name is Michael Jones and I'm coming to you from Amsterdam.
Meet Our Guest: Samuel Yu
00:00:20
Speaker
And today we have a very special guest with us today, Samuel Yu, senior marketing executives for Seychelles Tourism in China.
00:00:29
Speaker
Samuel, I was hoping you could maybe just introduce a little bit about what you do day to day and how you guys handle the marketing of Seychelles Tourism in China.
Samuel Yu's Role in Seychelles Tourism
00:00:39
Speaker
Sure. Nice to meet you all. This is Sam. My name is is Sam. I'm working for Seychelles Tourism. I'm based in the Shanghai office and the look after the whole China
China Outbound Tourism Market: A Discussion
00:00:51
Speaker
market. And primarily, my job is to promote Seychelles tourism in China and bring more travelers from China to the Seychelles.
00:01:04
Speaker
Samuel, I would like to just kind of ask you to give us a snapshot of where social tourism is as we come to the end of 2025. You know, it's been a it's been a fairly dynamic year for the China outbound tourism market. You know, we've seen um incredible shifts happening from um you know Thailand first facing quite a downturn and now Japan as well. How does Seychelles tourism find itself in between all of these changing market dynamics as we head into 2026?
00:01:36
Speaker
Okay, so for us, Seychelles is quite ah different destinations as other many destinations for the Chinese markets. And the Seychelles has never positioned itself as a a mass market destination in China.
00:01:55
Speaker
From the beginning, it has been a niche and a high value destination. we aimed at We aim at the travelers who are looking for a privacy nature and a strong sense of place rather than volume-driven tourism.
00:02:14
Speaker
And in fact, in 2017, we made a very conscious strategy strategy shift in China.
00:02:25
Speaker
we focus more clearly on discerning Chinese travelers. Travelers were more experienced, more selective, and more value-driven the way they choose their destinations. So that strategic decision still shapes everything we do in the market today.
Seychelles' Post-Pandemic Tourism Recovery
00:02:46
Speaker
And when you look at like the arrivals in the past few years, Like in 2018, we welcomed around Chinese visitors,
00:03:05
Speaker
followed by like six around six thousand to two two hundred in twenty nineteen and then this were the years shortly after our strategy realignment when awareness among high-end Chinese travelers and specialist the travel agents was a gradually building. and then of course, the pandemic caused a significant disruption. 2023, arrivals from China were at
00:03:47
Speaker
almost a two thousand two hundred twenty reflecting the very earlier phase of Chinese outbound recovery. And in 2024, we saw a steady improvement to almost 3,300 Chinese visitors. first three and what is particular particularly encouraging is that in the first ah three quarters of 2025 alone, Seychelles has already welcomed almost 4,200 Chinese travelers, surpassing the full year 2024 figure.
Understanding Chinese Traveler Segments
00:04:30
Speaker
And what is more important is that this is not a volume driven recovery, is a selective and quality led recovery, which actually aligns very well with our long term positioning.
00:04:48
Speaker
That's actually ah super interesting. So I mean, I was going to ask this question originally, but a bit now that this definitely piqued my interest. So in terms of it seems like you guys have got quite quite a fair amount of control in in your strategy. um how How precisely does does that play out in in practical ways?
00:05:09
Speaker
And by that I mean, for example, are most of your guests coming from China FIT travellers, or do some actually come all also from from tour operators, from like B2B tour operator relations?
00:05:25
Speaker
um Can you give me a bit of an idea of your source pool for the Seychelles? Sure. Actually, we do have like fff i t but you know Nowadays, the Chinese outbound travel agencies is quite quite mixed.
00:05:42
Speaker
The B2B players also acquired the B2C clients. There is no clear boundary between B2B and the B2C. This is veryt interesting right very interesting and also kind of challenge for our trade partners in Seychelles and also for us, because you have to be you know flexible to understand the Chinese market, how it works.
00:06:07
Speaker
But ah when you look at our, like the ah Chinese travel travelers profiles, we generally see four core segments.
00:06:21
Speaker
The first is high-end, we call it like high net worth FIT travelers who prefer tailor-made itineraries, private velas, and flexible travel experience. Privacy and personalizations are key drivers for them.
00:06:39
Speaker
The second segment is honeymoon and the c celebrateleb ah celebration travelers. And for this group, seashells is not just a destination, but a symbolic choice.
00:06:53
Speaker
It's about creating memories rather than ticking boxes. The third segment is small hand incentive or mass groups. These are highly curated programs ah where quality of experience matters far more than the group size. The full segment which is becoming increasingly important is ah retirement people.
00:07:21
Speaker
These are travelers who are recently retired, approaching retirement, and see travel as a way to explore the world more deeply. What all these ah these segments share is that they they yeah they are all experience driven rather than price driven and that they value trust, quality and authenticity.
Seychelles' MICE Tourism Potential
00:07:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's really interesting. And so now with ah with the the the last segment that you mentioned now, the the retired folk that are traveling to the Seychelles,
00:07:58
Speaker
when they travel to the Seychelles, I mean, If you don't mind me asking if you know like ah roughly like how long do they normally stay? And then my next question is, do is Seychelles really just a standalone destination for them? Or would they also add on something before or after along the way or something along those lines?
00:08:21
Speaker
Oh, that's ah that's a good question, in Michael. Actually, those retirement people, they don't only travel to Seychelles. They travel other destinations, combined Seychelles, which we call we call Vanilla Islands. Like they go to Seychelles, they go to...
00:08:39
Speaker
Lachynion, they go to Madagascar and Mauritius. So wow the whole journey in the destinations is in all the destinations is around like 16, maybe 15 to 16 days. But in Seychelles, they usually stay like three days or four days.
00:08:58
Speaker
And the package for this type of travel package is roughly 70,000 RMB. Wow. t thousand r and b the person. So it's quite expensive.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah, that is very expensive. Yeah. Cool. Very interesting. ah Samuel, i I'm quite interested in sort of double clicking on the mice travel segment that you spoke about. Yes. Specifically, um i see a lot of Chinese companies are potentially looking at at sort of hosting and holding overseas um mice events and experiences. But I'd be very interested to know in sort of um what what does the Seychelles mainly find as their biggest selling points? in terms of mice? Is it, you know, the geography? Is it the local company ecosystem? um Could you give us a better idea of how you guys work with mice?
00:09:52
Speaker
That's another good question, Xiao. Actually, the mass segment is the place where we want to develop more. In the past few years, we didn't place our efforts, particularly in the mass in the mass market. But after pandemic, 2023,
00:10:12
Speaker
three we had a first big mass group is from a insurance company is around like 400 packs a people to Seychelles. And honestly
Influencer Campaigns and Social Media Strategy
00:10:28
Speaker
for Seychelles such a small destinations,
00:10:32
Speaker
we are more comfortable to host a group around 100 to 200, but so if it goes to a big group like 400 to 500, we still can accommodate. and The unique setting points for us for the nice mass a group is ah is a niche niche mass market for the come for the mass companies. So if they if they can you know do do the thing right, they could use this case as a
00:11:06
Speaker
a good story to tell their audience or stakeholders. And for Seychelles, we have a lot of biodiversity and the nature is also kind kind of linked to the ESG. Some companies are really looking for it.
00:11:29
Speaker
And we we are quite, so we quite have a lot, you know, the small size, like the board members or the VVIP clients come to Seychelles for the incentive and the mass group.
00:11:42
Speaker
So in general, for us, we are we are looking at, you know, the small size, more private, you know, incentive group instead of the large scale. We want to bring, you know, very a good local experience and this is what we could be different as other destinations for the miles.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, and then also out of the out of the like wealthy FIT segment, I mean, to your knowledge, I mean, Seychelles is obviously an incredibly luxurious island destination, but I mean, off the top of your head, I mean, do you know, have any Chinese travellers ever travel to the Seychelles with private jets, to your knowledge?
00:12:35
Speaker
Yes, we do have, but due to our policy, we can't share like the the more details, but we do have a quite few private jets from Chinese clients.
00:12:49
Speaker
Okay, really interesting. And then also, um I mean, you've been working with Seychelles for quite a number of years now. How would you describe Seychelles's social media strategy for for for China? And and has it changed through through the years?
00:13:12
Speaker
No, it's really because like compared to the time before pandemic, we downsized the budget and you know manpower. So to be honest, we didn't you know get a lot of time and you know budget to to run o a large campaign. So our social media strategy is also aligned with our general strategy, focus on the quality, not the quantity. And we we don't look at, you know,
00:13:53
Speaker
ah For Seychelles, we are not in like ah impulse by destinations. It requires a ah lot explanations, you know credibility, particularly like in the Chinese market. So when we talk about the social media strategy, we also want to adapt this kind of mindset in our social media strategy.
00:14:18
Speaker
We want to have more folks social media campaign that we can reach the the core target audience, not you know in general. But ah if we have budgets, we definitely would like to create more awareness in terms of where we are now. It's just like we have the budget limitation and the manpower.
00:14:47
Speaker
yeah and and and And my last question on the social media, I suspect you might have one or two, but we we'll see. um In your experience, I mean, ah to me also the Seychelles just looks like kind of like a wonderland dream list place for for aspiring Chinese influencers, Chinese KOLs.
00:15:11
Speaker
laam It just seems to be like a place where influencers would be queuing up to go to. but But nevertheless, um but a little bit on the technical side, I would like to ask, ah what what would your advice to people in the marketing industry be about about how to manage and the whole process of selecting and managing an influencer?
00:15:42
Speaker
um I mean, some influences, of course, are extremely powerful by the the the following that they have. And therefore, they could be a little bit difficult to work with sometimes.
00:15:55
Speaker
um I mean, China is also a huge country with a huge amount of influences to select from. What is your rough rule of thumb or your kind of process of of managing KOLs?
00:16:11
Speaker
like For me, like for our campaigns, we how we select an influencer or blogger depends on the objectives of the campaign. like If we we are doing the campaign only for awareness, we could have more choices. But if we want to have you know more ah result driven, like booking driven projects, we that this quite, quite be challenged as it just like, we have to
00:16:49
Speaker
do multiple you know selections, talk with different partners to find the right person. Because one question I'm always with asking myself is, does this blogger or influencer really kind reach the client that we would like to attract?
00:17:07
Speaker
Are those clients following this person? I always ask ask if I want to do booking-driven projects. But this is quite a tricky question also is ah is a is a practical thing like we are facing every day.
00:17:30
Speaker
i I want to ask a little bit more about, um you know, how you guys see Chinese social media.
Engaging with Chinese Tourists: Tips for Local Businesses
00:17:36
Speaker
So maybe two part question, if I can ask that. If you could maybe tell us, tell our listeners a little bit ah a little bit about which platforms um social tourism really emphasizes in the China markets, that's number one.
00:17:51
Speaker
And then secondly, um how do you guys judge success actually on these platforms?
00:17:59
Speaker
Well, do do As I mentioned, due to our budget limitation, we currently we only operate the social media account on Weibo, but we have registered on WeChat.
00:18:14
Speaker
And we are going to see the possibility to set set up an account on Red Node. It's just like because we are the government bodies, it takes quite a long procedure to you know to operate something.
00:18:31
Speaker
it involved the budget.
00:18:37
Speaker
And then i'd I'd also like to just kind of ask you about moving over towards um the actual businesses that are located in the Seychelles. you know um i know a lot of people that listen to this podcast are you know perhaps small hotel owners or small travel business owners. If you could maybe give a few tips to you know the actual suppliers of tourism experiences um in the Seychelles as a destination,
00:19:02
Speaker
in terms of you know challenges that they maybe want to overcome in dealing with China, what advice would you give them to be able to help them?
00:19:13
Speaker
The first thing comes to my mind is patience. You have to be patient. yeah Then you have to understand the culture, how the Chinese travel agents operate the business and all the Chinese clients, you know,
00:19:31
Speaker
when they travel, what they like.
Challenges for Chinese Tourism in Seychelles
00:19:35
Speaker
These are two things that are very important. you can't well understand because we have to do the KPI, we have to look at the KPI to do the forecast, especially for the hotel people. but to But it's just something that ah we can't rush.
00:19:56
Speaker
You have to keep educating educating though ah the Chinese travelers and keep your exposure as much as possible.
00:20:10
Speaker
That is so true. Yeah, I couldn't agree more with that. And then Samuel, also, um what what do you see as the biggest challenge that that you faced with promoting the Seychelles?
00:20:26
Speaker
Well, for us, for us, the the challenge is still the flat connectivity. And As you know, we don't have any direct flight from China to Seychelles.
00:20:42
Speaker
All the Chinese travelers, they have to transit in different places. So the flight connectivity is the the key challenge. And then the cost.
00:20:54
Speaker
The cost also you know influence the decision making, especially in the nowadays. you know The global economy is not very...
Island Tourism Preferences and Travel Agents
00:21:04
Speaker
is not very good, so the cost that does affect a lot of people when they want to travel.
00:21:12
Speaker
And therer is there is also a perception gap for some Chinese travelers as you know Africa is still unfamiliar and for me two parts of the Chinese market.
00:21:26
Speaker
Yes. And I mean, ah would you also find that, like, for example, is is is the Seychelles possibly like complementary in some ways to other island destinations? I mean, what I mean is, are there also perhaps particular types of customers?
00:21:48
Speaker
that that just prefer islands. So for example, I mean, are there are there perhaps ah Chinese outbound tourists out there who they like, maybe they started going to some of the more exclusive islands in Thailand first, maybe they went to Hawaii, maybe they go to Seychelles. I just remember for like many some Some years ago, ah when i was in the Seychelles with you, there there was also a tour operator, the Deer Island, that that's just specialized in promoting island destinations. i mean, is there such a thing as like people that really just converge around the island idea and really enjoy it and do it as often as possible?
00:22:30
Speaker
Well, I'm surprised you are still remembering the the age the agent name. yeah we Actually, there are those, I mean, the clients you mentioned, they only you know travel to islands, but so there are so many islands in the world. and each island is different, is unique. So add to at this point, we don't see like, i mean, sea showss the Seychelles Islands has competitors. It's just like we are we are all different. It's like different, you know, food.
00:23:05
Speaker
People have their own preference. But when it comes to business, it also depends on how the travel agent works influence the clients.
00:23:16
Speaker
Some clients, when they come to the travel agencies, they they don't have a strong opinion or they don't have their own preference. They just tell the agent the travel date, their budget, then the rest work will will be done at the travel agency. It depends on how they influence the the
Podcast Closing Remarks
00:23:38
Speaker
clients. and Yeah, this is like, that's why we, in the past few years, we keep educating the travel agents to make them understand how Seychelles is different as other island destinations.
00:23:58
Speaker
If you have any questions or comments about the topics discussed on this episode, you can feel free to send us an email at marketing at cconsulting.com.cn you can search us on LinkedIn at Create Consulting.
00:24:10
Speaker
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you, Samuel. Thank you for your time and I hope you have a great day further. Thank you, Michael. You too. Thanks, Samuel.