Two international publishing groups are preparing to launch Chinese-language business travel titles in China, a market with close to five million travellers although the mainland only recently allowed its citizens to travel.
UK-based Business Traveller will launch its sixth edition Business Traveller China (BTC) and Travel Trade Gazette Asia Media (TTG Asia) will roll out Business Travel News (BTN); both with pilot issues in November. Their second issues will launch in March 2003 on a bi-monthly cycle.
BTC is touting a complimentary circulation of 50,000 copies around the country, while BTN will have a complimentary circulation of almost 19,000.
BT's Asia publisher, Peggy Teo, says more than one-third of readers are expected to be vice-presidents or companies' chief representatives, with another 50 per cent at the managing director, director or senior executive level.
In both cases, the publishers are capitalising on a tripling of China's domestic travel volume in the last five years, which in 2000 saw 10.4 million Chinese travel abroad. Teo estimates that almost half of them were on business trips, an increase of 13 per cent on the previous year.
BTC will be printed in simplified Chinese characters and will provide destination reports, features, news and views.
Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia, says BTN is aimed at top-ranking executives in commerce, industry and Government who are not only travelling more but are spending more than ever before. "This niche has not been recognised or served by any publication of this genre before."
It is certainly true that China's businessmen are getting richer; the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing says there are now close to 10,000 entrepreneurs each worth US$10 million or more. And anyone involved in hotels, spas, golf, beauty or fashion will testify that these millions are not languishing in bank accounts.
But is there room for two business travel titles to launch simultaneously, and are they really what business leaders want to read? In a highly fragmented market, the concern is that they will simply add to the clutter. "Everybody knows that travel outside of China is expanding rapidly - the Government is making it far easier for people to get passports, quotas are being eased, and international travel in general is going to boom, says Robert Fitzgerald, managing director of OMD China. "But is there a market for business travel magazines? It's difficult to say. The kind of people who are doing a lot of international business travel, the senior end of the market, our research shows that they're very like consumers of any media.
"If you're trying to hit the very affluent in China, I'm not sure they would actually be reading that kind of thing. Fitzgerald says their preference is for international business titles published in Chinese. He predicts the two new titles may end up with a readership profile lower down the demographic scale than they are aiming for.
Chris Walton, chief executive of MindShare China, is more positive. He says hotels in major centres are full to capacity, and it's unheard of to get on a half-empty domestic flight, with much of the activity coming from business travel. "The whole upscale lifestyle in China is growing at an amazing rate, Walton says. "There's a hell of a lot of affluent people, and they're all doing business.
"Certainly I think there's room for titles in the business area ... and inflight magazines seem to be well consumed. There's certainly a market for (business travel titles), but what will be key is how they market themselves, Walton says.
"Everything in China is to do with face and status and conspicuous consumption - being seen to be targeted by certain titles is certainly desirable.
If they're positioned properly as high-end, lifestyle-related business magazines then I think people will be very interested."
Fitzgerald, despite his caution, is also reasonably optimistic. "One man's clutter is another man's targeting, he says. "Maybe it's another relatively small but discrete way of targeting affluent people, and maybe it will work."
BUSINESS TRAVELLER AND BTN'S CHINA RATE CARD
Business Traveller China
Size Colour Black & White
Double page spread 13,900 11,435
Half page spread 8,970 7,110
Full page 7,200 6,300
2/3 page 5,620 4,660
Half page 4,680 3,700
1/3 page 3,140 2,250
Business Travel News China
Full page 6,750 5,800
Junior page 5,860 4,920
Half page 5,060 4,110
Quarter page 3,710 2,760
Junior spread 12,670 10,780
Double page spread 14,580 12,690
Centre spread 16,030 14,140
