Corporate Social Responsibility

In today’s world, full of conflicts and every day more natural disasters, it is very likely that people wonders: what is going on? What are we doing to the planet? Is really the actual situation our fault? What can we do to make it a better place?

This kind of concern arrives also to the enterprises, not only individuals. And during the last years there has been arising a new concept that refers to their way of acting. It is called Corporate Social Responsibility. But, what is that exactly? Well, it has to do with the ethical actions and all the activities non related to the commercial ones, that have an impact on the overall society.

Knowing that, we can get into deeper questions to know more about it.

- To what extent tourism and CSR aspects are compatible? Give examples to argue your case either way.

The tourism industry if one of the most, if not the first, that we could consider that has all the values opposite to the CSR understanding. That is why a lot of natural resources are involved and we could even say wasted to develop it. All the forests that are gone to make hotels in beautiful locations, the incredible use of water that they require… And regarding persons, since is a very demanding profession, in highly occupied by tourist areas, such as Mallorca in the Mediterranean on any Caribbean island, much people is forced to work in very poor labor conditions. They are demanded to work a lot of hours for very low salaries. Another issue of vital importance and about which hotel companies are increasing awareness about is the sexual exploitation of minors. This problem is of big importance mostly in some Asian destinations such as Thailand and some of the hospitality business companies that have presence there decided to make something about it. Those negative aspects themselves could also be an opportunity to create CSR programs to diminish the negative impacts they cause, and at the same time they would be giving a better image to the World. The CSR in tourism businesses could imply the reduction of pollution, the fair treatment for the workers, the people who stay at the hotel and all the enterprises that provide goods or services to them, preservation of landscapes, natural environment, biodiversity… Let’s see what the real companies are doing, because thankfully, it is currently happening that some companies do care about CSR.

Example 1: Melià Hotels International

This hotel company born in the Balearic Islands, in Mallorca, is a great example of developing of a good CSR program. One of the mechanisms they have is the Sustainability Report, that every year shares non-financial information about the development of the company and also is based on recommendations by the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative or the WTO indicators. They have their own statements about their CSR:

TOWARDS OUR CUSTOMERS

Offer our guests the best personalized accommodation experience, exceeding their expectations with the excellence of our best service.

TOWARDS SOCIETY

Actively seek to generate prosperity and sustainable development in the communities where we are present, respecting and promoting their culture, traditions and values, and paying particular attention to children and the most vulnerable groups.

TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT

Contribute to preserving the environment and landscape, monitoring the impact of our business and promoting awareness about sustainability among our stakeholders.

TOWARDS OUR SUPPLIERS

Use our size and professionalism to build lasting relationships based on trust, respect and mutual benefit.

TOWARDS OUR EMPLOYEES

Offer the best opportunities for professional development, based on the stability of a family company and the strength of a leading international player which knows how to recognize commitment, talent and achievements fairly.

TOWARDS OUR SHAREHOLDERS AND INVESTORS

Manage the company according to criteria for transparency, and ensure strict and proper governance to achieve profitability and increase value in the medium and long term.

TOWARDS OUR OWNERS AND PARTNERS

Offer the best comprehensive services to capitalize on its investment, managing with the professionalism, integrity and confidence of a large internationally-renowned brand.

It is also nice to highlight their collaborations with organizations aimed to help people who really need it. In the following link we can see a real case: http://www.fundacionseres.org/Paginas/Campus/Noticias.aspx?IDn=1373. What it is mentioned here is that they donate 1€ per each collaboration of the people uploading a picture with a specific hashtag. The organization they are helping is aimed to achieve the dreams of the children with grave illnesses.

Example 2: Shangri-la

They have been recognized as the only hotel company in the Asia/Pacific region included in the standards byth Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (worldwide reference of sustainability since 1999).

They are taking actions to care both about the environment and the children, among others. Periodically they publish their ‘Communication on Progress’ documents, that details all the action they carry out that meet the principles of the United Nations Global Compact. They also have their own Sustainability report.

A very remarkable project that they launched in 2009 is the one that is detailed in the following link: http://www.shangri-la.com/corporate/about-us/corporate-social-responsibility/csr-projects/embrace/ and that is called ‘Embrace, Shangri-La's Care for People Project’. What they have done is commit each of their hotels in a 10/15 years partnership with different chosen beneficiary that works on children’s health and education programs.

- Describe the sustainability of the hospitality industry in China, especially hotels (see article in the BC folder for answers).

The development of the hotelier sector in China is rising at a very high speed. The number of hotel rooms is predicted to be three times bigger by 2039. And it is very tricky to get those figures without leaving behind some important aspects. The experts agree that the CSR in China is lacking. The extremely waste of water is the main issue that should be covered in the hospitality industry in China. When making the comparison with other countries, the figures of water and energy expenditure in China are way larger than the same type of expense in other big countries. Despite still there is a lot of work left to do, some companies started to make some adjustments to the situation, such as Accor, that committed to zero carbon properties for the future buildings and to apply when making reformations to the already existing hotels.

- Explain why is it critical for an organization to work with CSR principles.

It is an essential decision, basically, because what really want the organizations is earn money. And investing in CSR could be a tool to achieve it. Even though in the first moment it could seem a greater investment, in the long term can be the best investment ever. Coming back to my point at the beginning of the conversation, since it seems that the society is more concerned about the health of the earth, companies can create a very good image of themselves by developing good CSR principles. At the same time that they are helping the environment and the society, they are gaining trust in people and it is demonstrated that those companies that care about the CSR have potentially (an effectively in most cases) more customers that the ones that do not have it.

- Explain the importance of control aspects in the context of CSR guidelines.

For a correct development of the all proposed CSR programs by the enterprises, it is necessary some mechanism to guarantee that the promised actions will be carried out. It would be very easy for a company to say that they are going to develop ‘a program’, and then make the adjustments necessary to fake the results and pretend that they are doing something that is really not happening. To avoid this type of behavior, exist a lot of international companies, which are third parties in the issue and make reports and analysis with the aim to corroborate the sustainability of the companies. One that has reliability at a worldwide level in the Tourism Industry (to give an example) is: Travelife (http://www.travelife.org/Hotels/landing_page.asp). They give awards to the companies that follow sustainable rules. This is a way to demonstrate that real actions are taking place.

Sources:

‘Corporate Social Responsibility in the Hospitality Industry’, Garric, Arlene. 17 April 2015. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/corporate-social-responsibility-hospitality-industry-arlene

‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Tourism’, http://www.europeancitiesmarketing.com/corporate-social-responsibility-and-tourism/

Melià Hotels International Website, http://www.meliahotelsinternational.com/en/corporate-responsibility/csr

Shagri-la company Website, http://www.shangri-la.com/corporate/about-us/corporate-social-responsibility/sustainability/

‘Hotels in China must be more sustainable’, Filed under: Asia Pacific,Energy & Carbon,Industry News. http://www.greenhotelier.org/our-themes/energy/hotels-in-china-must-be-more-sustainable-says-report/

Trade Risks and Legal Risks when Doing Business with China

- What are the different possible areas of risks you could expect in relation to trading with China?

Corruption.

Bribing or corruption is illegal in China. Despite that fact, it is a very common activity in China. The Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China contains information regarding this aspect. Another issue contemplated in this Law is about Competition. Both of them a somehow confusing, because they not specify in a clear way which actions are specifically considered bribery or which are not.

Suppliers.

Knowing a trustable supplier could be a big issue when doing business with the Asian country. The common problems regarding suppliers are related, mostly, to delivery and payment. It is very likely that when you order something, the time for the delivery is way longer than expected, fact that of course, could mean a great disadvantage for your own business. Another issue related to the suppliers is when comes the time of the payment. Many Chinese suppliers ask for an advance payment. Since it could generate a kind of mistrust among the two parties, there are some mechanisms that help to develop the relationship in a healthier and safer way. An example of it could be the Letter of Credit.

Exchange rate.

The variability in the exchange rate between the renminbi (Chinese currency) and the currency of the other party could mean significant loses or gains of money.

Chinese government.

There are some regulations that could make more difficult the trading with foreign countries. An example of it, are the complication when signing a contract. It would be essential to have the appropriate legal advice, since there are limitations and constrictions when deciding under what law or what type of resolution mechanisms will be related to it.

In some occasions, there have been disputes and threatening behavior from the Chinese companies to the other parties, fact that could also diminish the aim of doing business with China.

Despite that, since 2012 the Chinese government announced a reduction in taxes in order to facilitate commercial relations with foreign countries.

- Explain in what way culture and understanding of the country as a whole play a role in increasing potential trade risk with China. Use examples to make your point.

A bad presentation or the wrong impression during the first meeting that you have with the representative of the company that you are interested in, can make the difference between a successful transaction or an immediate rejection. Getting to know the traditions and way of actin of the other party is an essential issue to guarantee success during a business operation.

The first thing we need to take into consideration is the greatest barrier that exists when Doing Business with China: the language. It is very likely that many of the representatives of the companies you want to make business with, will not speak English or will not be fluent. So, you would need a translator. It is also important to know the differences when approaching to the Chinese society. The type of illustrations that would call the attention to the European target market would not be the same as the ones in China.

A very remarkable cultural difference that will be essential when meeting a Chinese partner is the moment when you receive a business card is that you have to receive it with both hands, and read it immediately. In most of European countries the way of proceeding in the same situation is drastically different, being usual taking the card and put it away in your pocket or wallet. Reacting in a non-appropriate way in that moment could mean that you have no possibilities anymore to do business with that specific partner.

It is also usual to offer a present to the person that you meet. Also is important when receiving a present to do it with both hands. When deciding what to give, keep in mind the meaning of the object you choose. Better not gift anything related with turtles to a Chinese man, since the pinyin (written way of Chinese language that is not with symbols) for the translation of ‘turtle’ can both represent longevity and infidelity. As a remark, also is necessary to pay attention to the presents that you give and in what context, because this could also be considered bribery.

- What is in your mind the most important aspect to take into account when considering trade risk (in general terms)? There can be more than one answer to this question, argument your answer

According to my personal opinion there are three main aspects that should be taken into account in the moment that you decide that you are going to do business with China.

The first of them is that you should have a Chinese right hand. It may sound very obvious, but to me is essential to have a contact person that is going to be able to help you with the communication with the company that you are really interested in. A language misunderstanding could lead to a very uncomfortable situation or, in the worst cases, to legal problems in China. For that reason, having a local support would make much easier the flow of information.

The second thing I would remark, is that is essential no know well their culture. How they think, how they act… It is a very opposite behavior compared to what we are used to, and since they are the second worldwide potency, it would be very interesting to broaden the knowledge about their lifestyle and contemplate the possibilities that are offered when doing business with them.

The last one to take into consideration to me, would be having a good legal advice. When you know how to react both in legal and economic aspects (when buying goods for example), you are halfway in the tour to success.

Sources:

‘Risks Involved in Trading with or Operating in China’, http://es.slideshare.net/peterhalket/risks-involved-in-trading-and-operating

‘Costumbres y curiosidades chinas’, http://www.taijiquandao.com/01paginasespanol/12china/08-costumbres.htm

‘Corruption in trading with China’, http://es.slideshare.net/thomasliquori/corruption-with-trading-in-china

‘Overseas business risks with China’, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overseas-business-risk-china/overseas-business-risk-china#politics

Consumer Behaviour, deep look into Chinese population

Before talking about how is the consumer behavior specifically in China, we should define what is consumer behavior. That concept could be understood like a psychologist way of analyzing which factors determine the decisions that the consumers make. That is, analyzing their economic situation, which limitations/capabilities do they have, in what extent are they influenced by their social relationship with close friends and relatives, etc.

Having a little overview, we can take a deeper look to the subject that concern us.

- How would you define the average Chinese consumer nowadays?

As we can see in the chart above, only a 19% of the Chinese population is considered ‘Middle Class’. Taking into account that the total population in China is around 1.3 billion people, that percentage is not exactly a little amount. But still, half of the people who lives in the mentioned Asian country is still living in the countryside or rural zones, which means that they have not got a level of income enough to be capable to other activities apart from feeding their families and having a place to live in. The almost 31% remaining is what is considered ‘Migrant Workers’. Are those people who leave their hometown to find a job and maintain their relatives in the distance, by sending the money they earn with so much effort. It is more common that are not them, but their sons, daughters, sisters, brothers… who make the extra expenses. Even that, they cannot afford spending money in unnecessary things.

In this new chart, we can appreciate what are the priorities that the Chinese consumers have nowadays. As we can appreciate in the bars, the feeling of spending money is every time more related with a family wellness and more related to quality (better products) than quantity (a lot of insignificant goods). What we can deduct from it is that they do not also value how much money do they have, but also appreciate the way to spend it. According to the survey conducted by McKinsey&Company, two thirds of the Chinese consumers think that shopping is the best way to spend time with their families. Most of them think that it helps to connect with each other, the majority of the trips done from China to abroad are made with the families.

-How do prefer the Chinese consumers to do their purchases?

It is thoroughly known that the online commerce in China is one of the most important in the world, being the second positioned. It has become really important due to several reasons, being those some of the ones that deserve to be the most remarkable:

- A big amount of the population does not live in areas where going to shopping is easy. That is to say, many people live in rural areas or the surroundings of the cities, so it is easier for them to make the purchases through technological devises. Most of them, smartphones. Let’s have a look to the following chart:

The percentage of population who owns a smartphone is really high. So, it is easy to understand that most of the purchases are done by that support.

- Other reason is that the delivery costs are really low, if there are any, and the time for the delivery is really short. It means that they can order a product while they are going to class in the morning, for example, and receive it at home when they arrive in the afternoon.

- The quantity of products available to buy is way greater online. So they have more possibilities between which they can choose.

- What are they mostly buying?

In the previous picture we can have an overview of what are the major interests of the Chinese when we talk about their purchases. There are seven main points that are the ones who they require the most, but I am going to focus in two of them which I consider very related: looking more beautiful and luxury. Chinese consumers are one of the most luxury-buyers in all the World. Taking into consideration that those types of goods are really expensive in China, what they do is travel abroad to make their acquisitions. Their desire of products from the Western countries arises from the perception that those ones have a better quality than the ones produced in their own country.

- How would you relate the Chinese consumer with the tourism sector?

To start with, let’s have a look to the main destinations preferred by the Chinese.

According to the chart that we can see above, all the countries that are surrounding China are the ones most visited by the Chinese. In third position we find Europe.

In the last graph, what we see is that six years ago, the concept of Individual Travel was almost nonexistent, but as the time goes by more people decide to travel by their own. Although the previous year more than the half of the travelers were doing so by Package Tours, the arising of the new generations with a new concept of open-mindedness approach of life is leading to an increasing group of tourists.  

Sources:

Definition of consumer behavior, http://www.consumerpsychologist.com

‘Consumer behavior and Tourism’, Ed Sanders

‘Here comes the modern Chinese consumer’, http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/here-comes-the-modern-chinese-consumer

‘What Chinese consumers want’, http://marketingtochina.com/chinese-consumers-want/

‘China e-tailing’, http://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/asia-pacific/china-e-tailing

The development of Alibaba in the market

To understand how is the business atmosphere in China, is very interesting to pay attention to one of the most successful enterprises in the world, which was born in that country: Alibaba. This company is a Business to Business focused enterprise, which sells several products of all kinds (electronical divises, clothing, decoration...) at very competitive prices; although the universe of Alibaba has grown into a big family. We are going to have an introduccion to their roots and analise their development as a company, and their increasing importance among the international markets. Of course getting to the point where they are right now was not easy. To have a look to their trajectory, let's find out what are the key moments of the development of Alibaba as organization.

The first moment I would highlight is the creation of the company. In the year 1999 Jack Ma, natural from Hengszhou, decided to reunite 17 of his friends in an apartment and start creating 'something'. That would be something very innovative. In 1995 he travelled to the United States and discovered that enormous world of new possibilites: the Internet. There he found out that when he was doing some research online, he could not find any result related to China. And he got inspired. If that new technology was enchanting the rest of the world, why not his own country? Was then when his 'something' was born. Alibaba was created as a place where the wholesalers could offer their products and people could get them through the Internet. Worldwide known companies such as Goldman Sacks and Softbank saw the future's perspective of Ma's idea and decided to invest on it. Although it was hard, the motivating leadership of Jack lead them to the success.

When Alibaba was growing and more people was using it, it became necessary to create a platform that would increase the reliability of the company in terms of payments. That lead to the creation of Alipay, a mainstay for the success of the Alibaba group. Now, all the consumers could buy with a feeling of security about their money. I would stress without a doubt, another key moment for the development of the company: it was the year 2005 when Yahoo! decided to invest 1 billion dollars in the organization, amount that would account for the 40% of the stocks of the company. This fact would have a relevant impact on the world market and would be a surprise for other companies that were into the selling-buying sector, such as eBay, in the United States. That could lead us to analyse which were the reasons why eBay did not manage to set foot on the Chinese Market. The first reason could be very obvious: eBay is an American company, and they do not have the know-how about the Chinese market. Thus, is understandable that they failed in the methods to reach the market; for example, the trading of second-hand goods was not a popular activity in the Asian country, so they could not get into the market. Related to this, was the language barrier. It made difficult the communication and the unification of both cultures. The internet servers were also a deterrent for the developmento of eBay in China. They were working with American servers, and in hindered the proper functioning of the website. Besides, in China already existed a market for C2C trades: TaoBao. The Chinese website, son of Alibaba, that was very popular thanks to their free-commision service; unlike eBay, that charged around and 8% of commission for the use of their web.
Now, to keep going, we could have a look to what extent social aspects and culture has affected successes or failures of Alibaba up until this day. The first years of Alibaba were tough. In China, people was not awared about what the Internet was or which possibilities could it bring, so it was difficult to reach a target market. They had to beget the usage of the online services; and it was not a tough task, because it opened a great world of opportunities for the Chinese sellers to promote their products, and also to the buyers to have easier access to them.

If we analise today's trends and future's perspective, as we can see in Ed Sander's chart above, a 37% of the Chinese population has access to the Internet and also are online shoppers. If we take into account how many people live in china, 1.3 billion people approximately, we can assure that is a great percentage. So the fact that nowadays a lot commerce is done through the Internet, we have to doubt that this is a boost for the whole Alibaba group. Thanks to that immersion of the e-commerce in the country, many people that lives in rural areas have nowadays access to products that they otherwise could not even imagine.
But... why Alibaba is stomping in the market getting positioned at the level of Amazon for example? We should wonder what are the differences from an organizational point of view that are between them. An essential difference is that Alibaba doesn't sell products itself. It is just a platform where all the buyers can expose their goods and the buyers have access to check them. On the contrary, Amazon besides having the same option (buyers offer their goods), also have their own storage of goods, usually related to well-known brands.
If you would ask me if I see Alibaba setting foot outside China, I would answer yes. They already are outside China. A proof that they do is that they are investing in a lot of enterprises outside their country, such as Lyft Inc. and Snapchat Inc. Also, Alibaba's IPO was the greatest of the history, getting a great amount of millions from investors in Wall Street. In Europe, maybe Alibaba is not the most known brand of the company, but to get into the Wester market they have AliExpress, brand that is getting into the market at a very interesting rate.
To finish, I would like to leave you with a video from the creator, Jack Ma, where he makes a short speech but filled with motivation and inspirational thoughts. That energy, is the difference between failure and success and is what lead him to be the #8 person richest in the World.

Sources:
'e-commerce', Ed Sander's Lecture
'Jack Ma: su inspiradora historia', https://www.gooali.com/blogs/aliexpress/82661636-jack-ma-su-inspiradora-historia
'The richest people in Tech', Forbes http://www.forbes.com/profile/jack-ma/
'La salida a bolsa de Alibaba ya es la mayor de la historia', expansion.com http://www.expansion.com/2014/09/22/mercados/1411383126.html
'Inversión en Startups ayuda a crecer a Alibaba fuera de China', gestion.pe http://gestion.pe/empresas/inversion-startups-ayuda-alibaba-crecer-fuera-china-2166063

First impressions

WARNING! This may be a long post and full of personal thoughts and feelings. Be ready to get into my mind a little bit =)

It has been three weeks since we started the Minor: 'Doing Business with China'. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. It feels like it was two days ago when I was in my hometown, Palma, sleeping in my bed and thinking: 'tomorrow when I wake up, I will have to take a plane and travel to the Netherlands. My adventure will begin'. If I stop now and think about it, I realise that I have been through a roller coaster of emotions, it made me feel completely alive.

I would like to make an overview of the past weeks, because since yesterday, 15th of September, it has been a month since I came here.

During my first week in this new country for me, I travelled a lot because I spent a week of holidays with my family: mom, and 2 cousins. Belgium and the Netherlands were our travel destinations. Nine cities in five days is as exciting and intense as it seems.

1. A breathtaking feeling in the Grand Place in Brussels.

Grand Place

Grand Place

2. The Atomium

Atomium

3. Fairy tale streets in Brugge.

Coffee details from a lovely spot

Brugge

Brugge

4. Most delicious waffle in Gant.

Yummy!

Gant

5. The energy of Amsterdam

Canal in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

6. Cool coffee and good atmosphere in Utrecht

More coffee details (yes, I love coffee!)

Utrecht

7. Uniqueness of Marken

On the way to Marken

First thing you see!

8. Lovely animals and beautiful landscapes of Arnhem

Smile to the camera!

Arnhem

Arnhem

9. And of course, my home for the following months: Deventer

I'm staying HERE!

Street of Deventer

But then comes the reality! It was time to start working hard!
Well... not precisely, because the first week of school, starting August 29th, was the introduction week; called 'HOI'. It was meant to welcome all the first-year students of Saxion and also exchange students (that's me!).

It was filled with new information, very useful for the following weeks; and also lots and lots of fun!

And now, let's move to what concerns us: the real first two weeks of class.

During the first two weeks, we had a lot of of Bildung activites. You may wonder what 'Bildung' is. This is a German word, which refers to a process of better understanding yourself, and increasing the awareness of your own thoughts and feelings. At least, this is how I experienced it.

To do that, we had a lot of workshops. Each of them brought us different kinds of self-reflection.

We started with a 'Global Citizens & Global History' workshop. I am not a real history lover, but I can honestly say that this day I really enjoyed the lesson. I never thought that history could be taught in such an interactive way! I like the fact that I learned new things about where we come from, as human beings.

Next experience we had was the 'Art' Workshop. Oh my god! I can't even draw a tree (okay, maybe that's exaggerating a bit, but is to help you understand my fear of having to create some beautiful drawings). But the workshop wasn't about that. The workshop was about projecting our self-perception into a paper with three different colours. What a challenge! ~What colors I feel that identify myself? How can I draw my face?~ And then I just started drawing. It is just a matter of letting yourself go. There's no wrong or right on that. There is just you. It was very inspiring to see how each person had a different way to approach the exercise and how many different minds and perspective can be so inspiring to the other. The great thing about these kind of exercises is that we know better each other at the end. And I feel very lucky to share this experience with so many beautiful souls!

My own portait!

Spent the morning here

More art works

Final creation!

Now is the time to talk about one of the most inspiring experiences I had so far. We went to Nijmegen to visit the muZIEum. It's not the typical museum where you go and stand there admiring some paintings or scultures. In the muZIEum, we could experience during an hour what is like tobe a blind person. It may seem like an amusing activity, but it can actually help you to open your mind. I felt very lucky and very thankful, because after that time I would see the light again and I can appreciate how my people look like, I can watch TV, I can see if there is a bike coming in my way... All those things that we take for granted, and that we should stop more often to appreciate them.

We could't miss the opportunity to know a little bit more the city that we were at, and of course to know better each other, so we decided to have a drink there together. Despite not all of us could make it, we enjoyed a nice conversation! (Thank you Erik for the car ride!).

City Center

That's us! :) (not all included)

The next day, we had a workshop about 'Religion and History in China'. This actually wasn't one of my favourite workshop. I realised there are many things that I don't know and I have to improve my knowledge on the subject!
After this, in the following week, we had three different workshops but very related among them: 'Ethics and Technology', 'Ethics and Integrity' and finally 'Identity and Global Citizenship'. If I had to highlight one of them, it would be the first one: E&T. The lecturer was a really good intermediary and really knew about he was talking about. I felt very comfortable and I really liked participating. Again, this was a great opportunity for all of us to share our opinions and get to know each other better.

To finish those two intense weeks, we had a round of presentations. Each of us chose a different method to do it, but all of them were special in their own way. It was the summum of opennes, each of us would express how we felt during those weeks. I think that those kind of activites are really 'teambuilders' and helped us to feel more comfortable with the others. In my opinion that's an essential matter, since we are going to spend a lot of time working together and somehow we are lucky to be such a small number of students in the class. Again, I would say that I feel very comfortable with that people and I'm lucky to share this amazing experience with them.

Me presenting

If you made it till the end, thank you for reading. I hope that you didn't feel bored. Now you know a little bit more about my complicated mind. If you feel like giving some feedback; please, do not hesitate to write a comment!

XOXO

Helena VJ. 

Analysing outbound tourism in China

To understand the trends of the outbound tourism, we should first pay attention to the socio-economic situation of the country. As we have heard many times, the situation of China in the global market is sharply growing at a very fast level. How did they get there? Let's go a little bit deeper on that.
If we analyse the situation of the country, we should stress the important changes that were done in 1978 thanks to the economic reform policy driven by the politic Deng Xiaoping. From that year, China experienced an openness in the main driving forces of an economy: agriculture, defense, technology and industry. This four-forces changes are based on the 'four modernizations' carried out in 1964 by the politician Zhou Enlai. It is easy to assume that if those factors previously mentioned are improved, the whole economy will boost and progress. It led to a modernization of the economy and it became the open door to the worldwide market. Since that moment, if we pay attention to the GDP growth rate it has been growing year by year since the eighties. Despite that fact, during the last years they could not avoid the impact of the global crisis and their growth rate slowed a litte, but did not stop.

The improvements of the situation of the country led to a better situation for the chinese population. Their level of income makes more affordable extra expenses, such as travelling. Also, in 2013 a new program called 'The Outline for National Tourism and Leisure (2013-2020)’, issued by the Government of China, aims to help all the chinese workers to live with better conditions at their jobs, have periods of free time adequately compensated with the proportional salary, and also to develop in a healthy way the tourism in China.
To corroborate the theory let's look at the numbers.

Although the biggest part of the population is settled in the range of earnings up to $20k, the next fragment is a 10.1% of the population who is earning between $20k and $35k. This amount of income allows those people to have more money to spend in holidays (for example). If we take into account that the total population in China in 2015 was of 1,374,620,000 people, a 10% of the population is a very interesting figure.
So it seems that all the factors take us to confirm that effectively, the chinese lifestyle is getting better and they want to open their eyes to the World.
Now, let's have a deeper look into how is the people who is travelling.
Based on the information that presented the online newspaper Hosteltur, I made a pie chart to illustrate better what the situation is.

Among the previous classification we should maybe stress the group that represents the 21% of the total: pleasure seekers. Those ones are the Millenials; it is, the new generation. The data shows that they spent the 27% of their income in trips. So could be great that the efforts to atract new tourits would be stressed on them.

It is the moment now to see where they travel.

As we can see on the chart above, the top trending destinations for the Chinese are in the Asia-Pacific region, standing out among them Seoul (South Korea). We do not find any city from other continent until the 10th postition, which is New York City, in North America. Finally, Europe ocuppies the two last postitions on the top 15 ranking.

It does not really mean much if we take into account that the trend of travelling is increasing in the chinese society and that they are willing to spend their money, and that is an opportunity. The figures show that they prefer large cities to visit. And the youngsters, who are the generation linked to the internet and new technologies, are the ones with more potential to be attracted.
So taking all the previous information into account, we could say that now Europe is in the perfect postition start a plan to attract all those potential travelers. Getting to know better their culture and their use of the social media could be a great advantage to start marketing campaigns to increase their desire to visit the Old Continent.

Helena Valero Jaroso

Sources
Deng Xiaoping, Wikipedia https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping

'China, 30 años de crecimiento económico' file:///C:/Users/helee/Downloads/Dialnet-China-2916327.pdf

Chinese GDP http://countryeconomy.com/gdp/china

UNWTO, 'China´s new national tourism strategy set to increase outbound tourism' http://media.unwto.org/press-release/2013-03-25/china-s-new-national-tourism-strategy-set-increase-outbound-tourism

Chinese population http://countryeconomy.com/demography/population/china

'Los 5 perfiles de turistas chinos' http://www.hosteltur.com/117246_cinco-perfiles-turista-chino.html

'The future of Chinese travel' https://www.ihgplc.com/chinesetravel/src/pdf/IHG_Future_Chinese_Travel.pdf