Speaking to TTG, the operator’s head of trade sales, Gary King, said Wendy Wu would shortly be launching a China focus week for the trade and rolling out more tools to agents to help them capture a bigger slice of the market after China reopened its borders earlier this year.

“We’re noticing the trade hasn’t been very forthcoming and it’s slightly behind direct numbers,” said King. “What we really want to see is effort from agents to share the fantastic content that we’ve got.”

Plans include fams to some of China’s further-flung regions and natural attractions, as well as an aim to address some of the bad press the country has suffered in recent months.

Starting Monday 12 June, Wendy Wu’s China focus week will see the operator’s new-look team of business development managers hit the road to bring agents up to speed on all things China.

“We’ll be out and about visiting all of our key agents across the country, giving them as much information and knowledge about China as we can,” he added.

Wendy Wu made the headlines in April when it became the first UK tour operator to resume travel to China, and later sent its senior team to the country after a three-year, Covid-induced hiatus.

According to King, who joined the business in June 2022 after more than 15 years with Tui, bookings have increased five-fold following the country reopened its borders. Trade business, though, has lagged behind; King told TTG he put this down to hesitancy on the part of agents owing to "China’s bad press".

Experiential focus

"The whole reason for us to go [to China] was to try to dispel the very dark thoughts agents have had because the press hasn’t been great for China with Covid, Russia and Taiwan,” said King. “Our idea is to take away the politics and remind agents about the absolutely fantastic product on offer.”

To help agents with their bookings, the Asia specialist will host an online trade show on 14 June, as well as two other nights – one in Birmingham and one in London – to show agents some of the footage and highlights from the senior management trip to China.

King also revealed to TTG the operator is planning several fam trips later this year, which will take agents to lesser known parts of the country – such as the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park. “We’re going to focus on some of the more experiential destinations, those most people might not have even heard of,” King added. 

Wendy Wu Tours is also urging agents to make use of its facts and information portal, the Matrix, which provides agents with the key details about its 39 destinations.

“Most of these destinations are places agents will not be asked about regularly,” he said. “So we wanted to create something that sits digitally within our agent portal and that agents when needed.”

Despite its focus on growing China back to be the biggest part of its business, King said Wendy Wu Tours wouldn’t lose sight of, or focus on, its destinations and would continue to seek to grow them.

The operator recently launched trips to Costa Rica, as well as five new tours to the likes of Sri Lanka, Vietnam and China as part of its Christmas programme.

“We’re certainly not going to stop focusing on any of the destinations that we’ve grown, but China is very special to us,” King told TTG. “I guess our focus is on using all of our experience, knowledge and know-how to ensure we continue to grow at the levels we’ve set.”