Beijing: Belmond, a luxury travel brand under the umbrella of French luxury giant LVMH, says it has seen a growing volume of bookings globally from Chinese guests, and it is bullish on increasingly diversified demand from the world’s second-largest economy.
Last year, Belmond saw the number of bookings via Chinese travel agencies jump 15% over pre-Covid-19 levels seen in 2019, said Nicolas Streff, Belmond’s vice-president of strategy and corporate communication, during a visit to China this week – his first to the country since the pandemic.
Belmond does not operate any hotels in China yet, but its properties worldwide have been patronised by Chinese consumers who have been pursuing high-end and unique experiences, including young couples on honeymoons or holding weddings, and well-to-do family travellers.
Some hotels that have seen a large number of bookings from Chinese travellers include those in Brazil and Italy – as well as safari-takers in Botswana – alongside passengers on the Eastern and Oriental Express, a Belmond train travel product that returned to the rails in South-East Asia in February.
Belmond said that in the post-pandemic period, it found Chinese travellers stayed longer at hotels, had more diversified requests and sought more unique adventures.
Meanwhile, Belmond has seen more European travellers rediscovering Europe after the pandemic, and saw a surge in its train-travel business in Europe.
“We are at the very beginning of the journey for Belmond China. We have launched an official account on WeChat, and a few other projects are in the pipeline; it’s our first chapter. We are going to take the time we need to understand better what Chinese travellers expect from a brand like Belmond,” Streff said.
He said he believes there are business growth opportunities in China, given the country’s rich heritage, culture and traditions, as well as its ability to look forward to the future, which is very contemporary and in line with Belmond. The brand would like to cooperate with more travel agencies and other industry players in China.
For the latest luxury consumption trends, Chinese consumers have indicated a desire for more tailored services and experiential luxury products, as well as digitised experiences, Streff said.
Chinese travellers have indicated an increasingly growing enthusiasm for travelling abroad, fuelled by a steady recovery of international flights and the implementation of visa-free policies for Chinese visitors in multiple countries.
During the Lunar New Year this year, passenger trips taken abroad approached levels recorded in the same period of 2019, said the Culture and Tourism Ministry. — China Daily/ANN