Helping adventurers find their way in China

An enterprising Kiwi is organising tailor-made tours to minimise hassles for Westerners, Roeland van den Bergh reports.

John McKenna quit the high-paying corporate life to chase a dream combining work with personal travel adventures in China.

The Shanghai-based New Zealander travelled the world for more than 15 years, eventually returning home as a salesman for an electronics company.

A job offer five years ago to establish the Asian regional headquarters of a big European multinational lured the 45-year-old to the Chinese financial centre.

"I have always been good at setting stuff up."

But after two years the job was done, and - sick of living out of suitcases and calling hotel rooms home - he decided it was time for a lifestyle change.

"You forget which town you are in."

He decided to draw on his experience backpacking around China 13 years ago when he stepped off the Trans-Siberian railway from London, on his way back to New Zealand.

An intended one-month stay stretched out to three months, exploring off the tourist trails.

"I just loved it, I was treated so well here."

But other tourists he encountered recounted endless horror stories.

Travel in China is frustrating, and every tiny thing can be difficult, Mr McKenna says.

The country has a fantastic rail system and an extensive, though expensive, domestic airline network. But coping with the language and cultural barriers is not as easy as the travel shows on television make out, supported by their Chinese-speaking producers.

Foreigners cannot use the phone in China for anything other than calling other foreigners, Mr McKenna says.

"If you call a taxi, no one speaks English."

Similarly if the hotel room is not right, it is difficult to get the problem fixed, even though Chinese are eager to help.

Mr McKenna spent a few hundred dollars building a website specialising in organising tailor-made tours aimed at the large expatriate community in Shanghai and Beijing as well as "older backpackers".

The plan was to create a business that he could run while also travelling around China and sharing his experiences on the website.

Travel-the-real-china.com plans a trip through China down to the finest detail, including local guides, transport and accommodation.

Mr McKenna is also on call at all times to deal with the inevitable problems that crop up.

"I set it up really as a `see what happens', and it has worked."

He sold his first trip within a week of launching the site.

Though backpackers always want to do everything on the cheap and have time on their side, expatriates find it difficult to organise short excursions to see the country during the typical two- year corporate postings, he says.

China's tourism industry, especially outside the main centres, is geared toward big groups of domestic travellers, rather than Westerners who travel alone or in small groups.

There is a lack of understanding in China about the needs of Western tourists, especially those wanting to see the "old and authentic" China, he says.

Mr McKenna has built a network of providers in the most popular cultural destinations, Beijing and Xian, as well as the scenic south, to support his niche business.

"It's an area of business where they can't attack and they are quite happy for me to attack it, so it works really nicely."

MOST expatriates will take four or five trips a year, some coinciding with relatives' visits from home, making for good repeat business.

Tourists from outside China make up about 40 per cent of the business and are generally aged over 40 years.

"They have done the backpacking. They have now got a little bit more money and they want a clean toilet."

They are also thirsty for knowledge and understand the value of a good local Chinese guide to show them around and deal with the locals.

Mr McKenna prides himself on providing a personal service, which includes talking to customers every day during their trip, even though as an Internet trader he seldom meets them in person.

He is expanding the business to New Zealand by encouraging his clients in China to take one of their longer holidays here through a similar website.

The business will eventually aim at Chinese tourists as restrictions imposed on individuals to travel outside China ease over time.

New Zealand is already an approved country for Chinese tourists and the numbers visiting are growing at a rate of 17 per cent a year.

Most come as part of large organised tours.

But it is still too difficult and often expensive for individuals to gain approval to travel independently.

Air New Zealand introduced a direct service to Shanghai last year and will add Beijing in July.

 

- © Fairfax NZ News