A holiday on a shoestring budget 20 years ago sowed the seeds for a lucrative business

The late French president Charles de Gaulle is said to have once asked about his nation: "How can you possibly govern a country that has 246 kinds of cheese?"

Where some people see problems, others see only opportunities, and Alain Hong is one of the latter when it comes to France. For him the country is much more than a gigantic cheese platter, and l'Hexagone, as the French popularly call metropolitan France, is a gem that has many more than five facets.

The Beijing travel agent sees the country as a smorgasbord of attractions for tourists and is on a mission to serve them up to Chinese according to their tastes.

Listening to him enthuse about shopping at Printemps department store in Paris, spending a week in a farmhouse in Bordeaux, wandering through an ancient castle elsewhere or lapping up the sights of Monaco on a luxurious yacht, it is clear he has first-hand knowledge of the country.

"Paris is the most interesting city, with stories in every cafe, every bookshop and on every street corner. Provence is filled with ethnic flavor, and the beauty of the lavender fields is beyond your wildest dreams."

Hong's love affair with France began nearly 20 years ago when he spent four months there. He went there alone, something almost unheard of in those days for Chinese traveling to Europe.

"When I was up the Eiffel Tower a French woman asked whether I was from Japan, and I said no. She then took guesses: South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, but did not mention the Chinese mainland. To her mind people from the Chinese mainland never traveled alone I was among the first Chinese to experience modern France."

Hong, on a limited budget, stayed with French friends, and he says that experience gave him a profound understanding of the "real" France. "And that is when my long relationship with French tourism began. I love France and I love traveling, so doing work related to both is the most fulfilling thing I could possibly do."

After finishing postgraduate study in France, Hong became China representative of the French Tourist Office in 2000.

"It was when China's outbound travel market started to boom, and in my three years' service in the French Tourist Office I dealt with tens of thousands of travel agencies."

His tasks included designing itineraries for Chinese travel agencies and liaising with hotels, restaurants and airlines.

Hong says the more Chinese tour groups he received in France, the more problems he found with what Chinese travel agencies were offering. "One small example is almost all Chinese tour packages provide Chinese food during the trips. How can our travelers get to know the real France without tasting French food?"

What most Chinese travel agencies offer is appropriate to most Chinese travelers at the moment, he says, because they cannot afford a deeper and more personalized travel experience, even if they are curious enough to venture outside China. "However, we need to provide services to those who are no longer locked into group travel, who have money and who want to experience more."

Hong set up E-tour Travel Consulting Co, focusing on customized private travel services, in October 2003.

"During my three years' work in the French Tourist Office I managed to build up a collection of resources on accommodation, catering, airlines, marketing and PR. In addition, with my own experience and knowledge of France I am confident that I can provide services my customers will be satisfied with."

In 2003 the idea of customized travel was far from familiar to Chinese, but Hong was confident that there was a market for it.

"Not one single tour package that E-Tour provides is exactly the same and we aim to make each tour match the requests of every customer."

To better make the various pieces of the travel experience jigsaw fit together, Hong becomes China representative for Monte-Carlo SBM Group, Printemps Paris and Grandes Etapes Francaises.

"The SBM Group, for example, was founded in 1863, and has four hotels, 33 restaurants, five casinos, 23 tennis courts and a golf course in Monte Carlo, meaning almost every aspect of a trip is involved."

As the company's China representative, Hong is able to arrange activities for his customers unavailable to other Chinese travel service providers. "Some customers of mine said they wanted to experience a Western upper-class dinner and meet European social elites. So (in March) I arranged a table for Chinese guests at the annual Monaco Rose Ball. The royal family attended, and my clients were delighted."

Over the past nine years the ideas rich Chinese have about travel have changed, he says. "They used to want the best in every aspect of their travel; they wanted the best rooms in the best hotel, the best restaurant and the best cars. They were not afraid of spending money."

However, he says, these wealthy Chinese, particularly the nouveaux riches with higher education, now tend to know more about what he considers to be the "true meaning" of traveling. "They do not necessarily need to stay in the best hotels, but they all have clear aims for the places they are going to, and they know how to enjoy their lives. To them, traveling is more like a lifestyle."

yanyiqi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 07/27/2012 page11)