Company brings in tourists by combining holidays and learning

Qufu Lake Comfort Travel (CCT) has been a pioneer in the international Confucius travel business since the private enterprise was opened in 2000.

The company came into existence shortly after the state opened the door to individual travel agencies doing international business in late 1999. It was rare for a business at that time to be as visionary as CCT was about the potential for international visitors to China with an interest in Confucius.

Despite the global financial crisis, CCT has enjoyed steady business from the Western world, running on average 80 international tour groups a year for more than 1,800 tourists.

"We have been running the international Confucius travel business since the very beginning, and the Western market has been a focus," says Xu Zhihe, manager of CCT. "Our goal has been to introduce more overseas guests to the city of Qufu and to help them understand more about Confucianism."

CCT's vision and confidence comes from the worldwide popularity of Confucianism. An increasing number of people are interested in learning about the country's culture, and CCT has capitalized on this.

"Some Western guests don't know much about Chinese culture, so we make sure they can experience culture first hand and understand how it has been influenced by Confucianism," Xu says.

From the beginning the cultural side of the travel business was very much in evidence. Travel schedules included a taijiquan practice at dawn followed by a Chinese painting or calligraphy lesson and a lecture on Chinese culture in the afternoon. The tight schedule did not appeal to some guests but the amount of knowledge about China included was much appreciated, Xu says.

"We had lectures on topics such as the social status of modern Chinese women, national family planning policy and rural traditions, which Western tourists were very interested in," Xu says.

The company moved then to offering home-stays where tourists could experience first hand Chinese village life.

"We have contracts with the villagers and only have two foreign guests with one family, so as to avoid overcrowding," says Xu, adding that some tourists have given generous amount of money to villagers after their stay.

As well as improving and extending its services, CCT has taken other steps to enlarge its business including attending international travel fairs.

"At the fairs we put on the ancient Chinese costumes that we have designed for our foreign guests," Xu says.

CCT has also been building relationships with other travel agencies in China, especially those catering to cultural travelers. This has allowed it to offer extra travel itineraries to places such as the hometown of Mencius, another Chinese philosopher.

CCT has also initiated an online marketing campaign, including creating its own website and working closely with well-known travel websites.

In addition, the company works with academic institutions, the Chinese Confucius Research Institute being a leading partner, as is Qufu Normal University. They have worked together to balance the economic and cultural sides of Confucius-related travel, CCT bringing in the tourists and professors from the institutions giving them lectures on Confucianism.

CCT's success is in part because it continues to reinvest in its services and marketing.

"Confucius travel is in itself a type of cultural travel," says Xu. "In order to enlarge our business we need to promote culture; it is a competitive circle."

Despite CCT's growth, it still faces some difficulties, including finding good staff.

"We need people with good linguistic skills who can help us receive foreign guests here in Qufu and market us abroad," Xu says. "As a private company we aren't attractive to most talented people; they would prefer to work for the government.

"We hope one day the overall environment of the Confucius travel market will change for the better and we can get more support from the government. We are as determined as ever to promote the concept of cultural travel as a local specialty."

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/14/2013 page25)