Digital marketing key to Hangzhou's tourist industry

Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, receives over 17 million domestic and foreign tourists during the National Day holiday in 2018, dubbed "Golden Week" in China. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Digital marketing has a big role to play in Hangzhou's development of its tourist industry, said Liu Zhengqi, a CPPCC member of Hangzhou Committee during an interview on Jan 28.

Digital marketing utilizes digital devices, the internet, or other communication technologies to build awareness and promote a product or services to a target audience.

"In today's digital age, expats get to know about the tourist attractions in Hangzhou through various digital marketing channels, such as overseas social media as well as shaping a certain perception of the city's tourism industry," Liu said.

He noted that with the rapid development of digital communication worldwide, Hangzhou has improved its tourism image and attracted more international visitors by carving out digital marketing channels such as foreign language websites and social platforms.

"The establishment and improvement of multilingual websites not only bridges language barriers for foreign tourists, but also provides rich and easy-to-access information on Hangzhou tourism for foreign tourists to Hangzhou, making it easier for them to make decisions before their trips.”

Despite the great achievements that the city has made in such respect, Liu believes that there is still room for further improvement in shaping Hangzhou's tourism image, with a focus on digital marketing.

Taking the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games as an opportunity, Liu suggests that more multilingual language websites catering to the participant countries for the Asian Games should be launched, so as to promote the city to a larger targeted audience.