Qantas courts tourists with Chinese in-flight magazine

Qantas is branching out into multilingual publishing, launching a Chinese-language in-flight magazine.

Qantas is launching a Chinese-language in-flight magazine to cater to Chinese tourists.

In a bid to cash in on the influx of Chinese travellers spending nearly $9 billion visiting Australia annually, Qantas is branching out into multilingual publishing, launching a Chinese-language in-flight magazine.

The 100-page book, published in simplified Chinese characters, will be available on Qantas international and domestic flights, duty free stores, luxury hotels and Qantas lounges in October and January. Both those months represent peak travel times for Chinese travellers visiting Australia.

Qantas’s group executive, brand, marketing and corporate affairs, Olivia Wirth, said there had been strong support from luxury advertisers for the new Chinese edition. Ms Wirth said companies were very keen to target the Chinese dollar and had put aside special advertising budgets. International launch advertisers for the first issue include Cartier, Giorgio Armani, and Mont Blanc but domestic advertisers such as Myer, Sunland and CPA Australia have also supported it.

“There was a lot of interest from Australian and global brands, which is no surprise given the 20 per cent year on year growth from Chinese inbound,” Ms Wirth said.

The magazine will have a 50,000 print run and Qantas will look to earn revenue from it.

“(But) it’s not just a source of revenue; it’s a way we can start forming relationships with the lucrative Chinese travel market and position Qantas as a premium brand in the market. We will look to target areas like repeat visitation.”

More than one million Chinese visitors holidayed in Australia in 2015-16, up 23 per cent on the previous year, while spending by Chinese visitors increased by 27 per cent to hit $8.9 billion. China is expected to overtake New Zealand as Australia’s biggest tourism market by 2018.

Ms Wirth said feedback on the Chinese language magazine would be measured by research.

“We have on-board research that we do. The distribution model will become very clear whether we see take-up of the magazine and there will be research about what they learn. We will use the content on social media and get an idea of what content is working for the Chinese market.”

Ms Wirth said the magazine would focus on topics that resonate with Chinese travellers, including beauty, nature, food, wine and local cuisine.