Week2Week Serviced Apartments was recently awarded a new Chartermark confirming its suitability for Chinese visitors.
The great China Welcome Charter was launched in 2014 by VisitBritain to help make Britain the destination of choice for the rapidly-growing Chinese market. Visitors from China to Britain have trebled in the last five years and tourism bosses believe they will be worth over £1 billion to Britain by 2020.
The Charter which now has over 400 members – is designed to help Chinese visitors easily identify hotels, attractions, retailers and tour operators that are making themselves China-ready’ by providing information in Chinese and creating new products especially for the market.
Week2Week qualified for membership because it welcomes Chinese visitors from the second they land in the UK, making them feel at home almost instantly.
Claire Parry said, “We pride ourselves on providing very high standards of service to all our customers and the Chinese are no exception. We are experiencing strong interest from China who seem to particularly enjoy our prime location, fully serviced apartments in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.”
Jo Leslie, who manages the great China Welcome programme for VisitBritain, said, “There is strong evidence that businesses who go the extra mile in catering for certain nationalities quickly reap the benefits. Week2Week is a great example of a serviced apartment provider which has been quick to recognise the massive potential of the Chinese market and has invested accordingly. We look forward to working with them in building their share of the market.”
Membership of the great China Welcome Charter is completely free but is only open to organisations which can prove they are China-ready’ by providing evidence of one or more of the following:
A product or a service that is of genuine interest to potential Chinese visitors and meets their distinct cultural needs and expectations
First-hand experience of welcoming Chinese visitors within the past two years
Mandarin speaking staff
Translated websites, apps or literature
Visitor information or signage in Mandarin
Visitor-facing staff who have undergone training about Chinese culture and etiquette
Facilities for customers to pay using China UnionPay
Some form of formal collaboration with a peer organisation in China
