Biz Unusual

Doing business in fine style

By Li Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-21 17:00

Idyllic Bhutan is a popular destination among travellers. [Photo by SunPala China / Provided to China Daily]

More CEOs and entrepreneurs are networking on tailor-made tourist trips and bringing booming business to travel companies

An increasing number of top-flight Chinese businessmen and businesswomen are choosing to network on exclusive, high-priced customized tourist trips organized by travel companies.

Most customized trips organized by Chinese travel companies do not come cheap, costing hundreds of thousands of yuan, which ensures each company's clientele is well-heeled and, more often than not, well-connected.

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The chance to rub shoulders and hobnob with famous CEOs and entrepreneurs, such as Alibaba's Ma Yun and Vantone's Feng Lun (both of whom are regular tailor-made travel clients) is the biggest draw card for other customers, most of whom are senior staff at major Chinese companies, according to staff at the companies that offer such trips.

"Who you go along with is the most important thing on such tours," said Cui Xueyan, a senior trip designer at Trip TM, a tailor-made tourist trip company.

The tailor-made nature of the trips also keeps group sizes small, which means more personal time with famous businesspeople for other clients, according to Cui.

Trip TM's first 100 regular clients, most of whom are "members" of the company are all millionaires. According to Guo Ming, director of Trip TM, the company's membership fees range from 50,000 yuan to 150,000 yuan. Most members join through an institution, such as the China Europe International Business School.

"The trip is actually a mobile master of business administration (MBA) class, providing a chances for communication and learning," said Wu Lin, vice-general manager of Sun Pala, a Beijing-based tailor-made travel company.

Most of Trip TM's clients are management staff from large companies, typically ranging in age from 35 to 55, according to Tang Jie, manager of the membership department at Trip TM.

Most tailor-made travel companies have forums for people who meet on their trips to stay in contact, said Wu.

These forums are extremely popular among clientele and help facilitate networking among them, according to Wu.

The famous CEOs and entrepreneurs, who help the travel companies draw other clients, come on the trips mostly because of the incredible attention to detail that most tailor-made travel companies offer.

Cui spent a month, for example, researching and designing a recent trip for two clients to Italy and Spain.

The pair spent part of their 13-day trip in a 600-year-old castle, made spaghetti with a local chef and stayed in a former 11th century palace on the Amalfi Coast. They swam in a luxurious open-air swimming pool surrounded by dramatic medieval ruins and gazed out at the stunning blue shades of the ocean.

The 400,000 yuan-trip included an Italian guide who studied Chinese for four years at Peking University and who took the pair far off the beaten tourist trail to local markets, cafs, bars and clubs, giving them a taste of local life that they otherwise never would have seen.

Cui has been in the tourism industry for 13 years and joined Trip TM early this year.

"The difference between tailor-made travel and traditional travel is like that between bespoke tailoring and ready-to-wear clothes," Cui said.