Why we are doing this
Christchurch International Airport (CIAL) has identified an opportunity to increase the economic outcomes for New Zealand from Chinese visitors.
Partnering with the Alibaba group of companies, we intend to achieve significant goals through the delivery and ongoing management of this project, being:
- Increased spend in New Zealand from Chinese visitors, both pre-booked travel and in-country spend on experiences, goods and services;
- Increased holiday visitors to the South Island from China, with a specific focus of growing geographic dispersal throughout the island (i.e. not just the hero tourism destinations) and increasing the spread throughout the year;
- Providing an opportunity for New Zealand businesses to develop micro-exporting opportunities into China.
What we are doing
- Fliggy (formerly Alitrips) is an OTA (online travel agency) with over 220m members and 10m daily visits.
- Focus on international travel, with a slightly younger, FIT audience.
- We are developing a South store on Fliggy to allow tourism operators to sell directly to the rapidly growing Chinese FIT market. This gives operators:
- Greater exposure direct to Chinese FIT travellers, as part of a dedicated South site;
- Control over product pricing and inventory;
- Reduced commission;
- The ability to generate greater pre-travel sales;
- Integration with Alipay to sell to Chinese guests as they travel the South Island;
- Options to create product bundles.
Fliggy & Alipay coming together
- Alibaba are more closely integrating Alipay and Fliggy to allow for easier data sharing between the two, along with the ability to purchase Fliggy product within the Alipay app.
- This will hugely benefit South members, making Alipay the go-to way for Chinese guests to find and purchase travel while traveling the South Island.
How it works
- Customers find product via a site search, or by coming directly to the South store.
- Each product page features text, images and video that promote the product and the operator.
- Customers use a calendar (showing daily pricing), then input the number of customers, before clicking ‘Buy Now’.
- This moves the booking into the customer service team, who manage availability and confirmation directly with the operator (or operators, in the case of bundles).
- The customer service team either confirms the booking with the customer, or suggests alternate dates. Upon confirmation, they take payment.
- Operators receive the payment from Christchurch Airport on a monthly basis.
The Biggest Opportunities
- Long-tail of product – Operators not currently represented in China.
- Product innovations / exclusives – Providing customer with something they can’t get elsewhere.
- Bundles – Making it easy for guests to experience all a destination has to offer (e.g. One Day In Akaroa).
- Integration into South Alipay activity / Alipay app – Making it easier for Chinese guests to find and purchase tourism product while traveling the South Island.
