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We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.
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China’s Golden Week is Tourism Health Check 🗺
Right now is China’s ‘Golden Week,’ a national holiday that usually involves people traveling both domestically and internationally. Given the coronavirus, most people in China are adjusting to how they approach Golden Week this year. China’s tourism ministry reported that 425 Million people have travelled domestically within the first four days of Golden Week, which is lower than the 542 Million people from last year. Overall tourism revenue from the first half of Golden Week is reported to be $45.9 Billion, which is a 31% decrease from the same time last year.
Trip.com, China’s largest online travel agency, has said that domestic travel bookings are at about 80% of pre-pandemic levels. These numbers are all very large, but overall shows a decline in travel and tourism-related spend. While restrictions have been pretty much lifted and people still flocked to major tourist sites this week, the travel industry is still in trouble. This shows signs of recovery, but there’s still a long way to go before consumption and tourism reaches pre-Covid levels and people feel safe enough to travel.
Burberry is First Luxury Brand On Chinese reality TV 🧣
Much like in the West, reality TV shows are a super popular category in China. As I’ve written about before, some of the most popular Chinese shows are based around street culture—like hip hop and street fashion. One example of this now is the show “Street Dance of China,” a hit show produced by streaming platform Youku. For brands, these reality shows are great opportunity to form a creative partnership and get in front of young audiences.
Well Burberry has now become a trailblazer as the first Western luxury brand to partner with a Chinese reality TV show, “Street Dance of China.” Burberry has launched a co-branded box with the show and souvenirs from the show have also been featured as free gifts with certain Burberry purchases. And there was a special livestream on Tmall, where people could buy a limited edition Burberry item inspired by the street fashion on the show. In a world where it’s difficult for a brand to stand out, especially in China, having more of an integrated commerce partnership with a hip, young TV show will probably work better than just running ads.
Alibaba Partners With Swiss Duty Free Giant
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has just announced a partnership with Swiss company Dufry, the world’s largest operator of airport duty free shops. Dufry was founded in Basel, Switzerland in 1865. The two companies have now entered a joint venture where Alibaba purchased a 10% stake in Dufry for $273 Million. People estimate that the logical next step is for Alibaba to start launching airport duty free stores across China. Right now, the state-owned China Duty Free Group dominates airport stores across the country.
When I think of offline commerce, I usually don’t think of airport duty free stores. However, duty free retail in China has grown 31% over the last two years, reaching a size of $7.6 Billion. Alibaba is always looking for growth, and this partnership with Dufry gives them much more legitimacy to get into duty free retail. At the same time, Dufry is aware of the huge opportunities in China that could be essential to the future of the company.
Update #81 - Golden Week Tourism, Street Burberry, and Airport Duty Free