British Attractions Given Mandarin Makeovers to Lure Chinese Visitors

A digital tourism campaign in the United Kingdom has attracted more than 2 million visits to its Chinese website as part of a bid to tap into China’s burgeoning outbound travel market.

VisitBritain, the U.K.’s national tourism agency, used Chinese social media platforms Weibo and WeChat to draw awareness to a centralized campaign website where the Chinese public were invited to give iconic British places and buildings a Mandarin name.

London’s Shard tower, for example, has been given the Chinese name of Zhai Xing Ta (摘星塔) – “a tower allowing us to pluck stars from the sky;” Savile Row, Gao Fu Shuai Zhi Lu (高富帅之路), translates to the “tall, rich, handsome street;” and Hadrian’s Wall, Yong Heng Zhi Ji (永恒之脊), is “the Wall of Eternity.”

VisitBritain says the campaign, which has been praised for its use of influencers, high-quality video, and crowdsourcing to engage possible visitors, has reached almost 300 million potential Chinese tourists through its social media accounts with 13,000 new names suggested throughout the 10-week initiative.

“This campaign has been hugely effective at driving [digital engagement] with our potential Chinese visitors,” says Sally Balcombe, chief executive (CEO) at VisitBritain.

The “GREAT Names for GREAT Britain” Chinese website has received more than 2 million visits, and almost 30 million people have watched the launch video, according to VisitBritain.

“We’re working closely with the industry and hope to see some of Britain’s most popular points of interest use these new Chinese names on their social media channels and websites to amplify that engagement,” says Balcombe.

The campaign is unusual for a government agency, says Napoleon Biggs, commercial director at Bolei Digital. “How many tourism boards would open this up to social media? It’s quite risky.”

Lead generation includes a U.K. visa application link on the website, taking visitors to a platform where all the content is in Chinese.

“It’s very visual, very integrated, and it’s a very clever use of the website,” says Biggs.

VisitBritain is hoping to double the £500 million (US$767 million) Chinese tourists spend annually in Britain over the next five years, and is using the campaign to draw awareness to regions beyond the bigger and more well-known cities such as London.

The initiative has seen more than 100 attractions in Britain given new Chinese names.

Image via Shutterstock.