Social media feedback is crucial for tourism success, says Asian tourism expert Richard Beere

WHILE Tasmania’s small businesses are increasingly “China ready”, large infrastructure projects are still crucial, an Asian tourism expert says.

Richard Beere at the 2014 Tasmanian Tourism Conference.

WHILE Tasmania’s small businesses are increasingly “China ready”, large infrastructure projects such as signage and Wi-Fi are still crucial, an Asian tourism expert says.

Speaking at the Tasmanian Tourism Conference today, Richard Beere said there were more than 600 million internet users in China who were already using more social media sites than Americans.

“Wi-Fi is a big one because people want to be able to access but also send information. Also, a lot of them use Google translate as they’re moving around. So not being connected is a problem,” he said.

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Mr Beere, who worked in Asia for 25 years and has established a successful business helping Australian organisations build business with China, said the power of feedback to make or break a business should not be underestimated.

“When you look at that [the high number of internet users], the power to tell a lot of people something very quickly, whether it’s bad news or good reviews, is something everyone has to take on board,” he said.

“Word of mouth is absolutely critical. The whole collectivist and group society that is China means everybody is connected and everybody is recommending things, or not recommending things. Social media is also very important.”

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Mr Beere said infrastructure such as signage needed to be addressed.

“On the bigger scale things like signage ... getting around ... touch screens. If you go to a place like Seoul, Korea there are touchscreens everywhere in different languages.”

Mr Beere said the expected visit of the Chinese President in November would increase visitation to Tasmania.

“It’s all about bragging rights, and it’s all about what makes you look good, so if they can say ‘I went where the President has been’ it’s a very good thing.

“It will increase the profile and visibility of Tasmania to the Chinese market.

“Everybody has quite a lot of work to do to make it work.”