Major campaign promotes Beijing tourism

A global marketing campaign to promote Beijing’s global tourism image and establish its reputation in the travel and tourism industry has been hailed a huge success.

The ‘Imperial Ambassador’ initiative was launched in May by Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development as part of its Belt and Road Initiative, with the support of strategic partner Air China. The campaign was designed to recruit tourism ambassadors for the area, with the dedicated mini website generating more than 50,000 views with over 2,000 applications and 60,000 new followers.

The ‘Imperial Ambassador’ winners are an internet-famous family (Family Fizz) and a popular post-90s vlogger (Parker Ferris). Both teams took an in-depth three-day tour to experience the imperial culture of Beijing.

The campaign’s finale event was attended by Song Yu, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development, Wang Jie, secretary of Air China Commission of Commerce, and Cao Pengcheng, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

Future collaboration

During the event, Song talked about the concept behind the campaign and expressed gratitude to the two winning teams. Wang also reviewed the highlights of the campaign and said there will be more collaboration between Air China and Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

Highlights of the ‘Imperial Ambassador’ campaign include:

1. Reaching the target audience – the campaign developed marketing strategies using social media platforms and working with social media influencers to promote what interests tourists most – Beijing’s imperial culture.
2. Innovative media strategies – the campaign collaborated with mainstream online and print media in China and overseas while making effective use of social media platforms to post live updates and show Beijing to the world.
3. Focusing on resource integration – the campaign strengthened linkages between the Chinese government and enterprises in the industry, especially involving China’s top travel agencies and using the world’s leading travel service distribution websites.
4. Being product-oriented – Imperial Ambassadors visited World Heritage Sites, imperial attractions and accommodations and other local spots. The campaign theme is Beijing’s imperial culture, and their travel route is turned into useful travel information.

• Look out for the Q3/Q4 2017 edition of RCI Ventures for a full report on opportunities for the hospitality industry in the region.