The Tourism Promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese Market: A ...repositorio.educacionsuperior.gob.ec/bitstream/28000/1402/1/T... · The Chinese University of Hong Kong Geography and

The Chinese University of Hong Kong Geography and Resource Management Department

Master of Social Science in Sustainable Tourism SUTM 5012 Dissertation

DISSERTATION

The Tourism Promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese Market:

A Sustainable Tourism Approach

By: Lisset Jaramillo Centeno s1155037847

Supervisor: Ph. D. Lawal M. Marafa

July, 2014

Lisset Jaramillo Centeno Student Id.: 1155037847

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ABSTRACT

Tourism is part of the priority sectors of Ecuador’s productive matrix (Embassy of Ecuador of the

People's Republic of China, 2013) and it represents its 4th main source of income after oil, banana

and shrimp exports (Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador, 2012). Moreover, the Government of Ecuador

considers that tourism is a strategic sector to diversify the economy of the country and it is believed

that a change to a real sustainable development can be led by tourism. In fact, Ecuador aims to

become a sustainable tourism leading destination in the world and this has been mentioned in the

main documents related to sustainable tourism and tourism marketing of Ecuador, namely: PIMTE

2014 and PLANDETUR 2020. After checking these documents, it has been noted that the Ministry

of Tourism of Ecuador has become aware of the potential of the Chinese tourism market in the

world, by indicating that China is always in the top 5 of the tourism spenders worldwide and also

top outbound travellers. Particularly for Ecuador, statistics prove that China is a rapidly growing

source country for inbound arrivals in Ecuador (Euromonitor International, 2013). Nevertheless,

China with the tourism potential that it represents to the world and in this case to Ecuador, it does

not belong to the key tourism markets of this Southamerican country and the tourism promotion of

Ecuador for the Chinese market faces many obstacles that keep constraining Chinese travellers to

visit Ecuador. Based on that this thesis research aims to assist Ecuador in promoting its tourism for

the Chinese market taking into consideration a sustainable tourism approach in order to achieve its

vision of becoming a leading sustainable tourism destination.

Key Words: Sustainable tourism, tourism promotion, promotion strategies, Ecuador, China.


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Hereby I would like to acknowledge all those individuals and institutions that supported me during

the whole process of my dissertation.

First of all I would like to thank God for giving me strength to reach my goals, for illuminating my

life and for blessing me in every way.

Also, I would like to express my gratitude to my dissertation supervisor, Professor Lawal Marafa, a

great person with a powerful voice and sense of humour even in the toughest times. I look forward

to seeing you again and welcoming you in my beloved country.

Furthermore, I would like to thank all the excellent professor from the Master Program of Social

Science in Sustainable Tourism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, our teaching assistant

Sally, my classmates, my best friend in Hong Kong Angel, Bob, Johnson, Muca, and in general to

all the nice people I met here in Hong Kong and who contributed from one way or another to my

research or even better to the enjoyment of my life as a postgraduate student at this prestigious

university.

Additionally, this thesis would have not been possible without the outstanding programmes led by

the President of Ecuador, Economist Rafael Correa Delgado, the best governor of my country who

together with the National Secretariat of Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation of

Ecuador (SENESCYT) created the scholarship program of “Universities of Excellence”. Thanks to

this amazing initiative I could study in one of the best universities in the world and in such a vibrant

city as Hong Kong. Gracias Señor Presidente!

I am also grateful to all the Ecuadorian authorities in China and in Ecuador who contributed in my

thesis research as well as to my ex-colleagues from the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador and tour

operators who kindly assisted me in this investigation.

Last but not least, I owe my deepest gratitude to my amazing parents, my beloved and supportive

husband and my Ecuadorian friends who cheered me up and supported me with everything they

could. I am indebted to all of you and from the bottom of my heart I thank you and I love you.


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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................................... 3

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... 6

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 9

1.0 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................... 9

1.1 Rational .................................................................................................................................. 11

1.2 Research Aim ......................................................................................................................... 12

1.3 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................. 12

1.4 Research Scope ...................................................................................................................... 12

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................... 13

2.1 Sustainable Tourism .............................................................................................................. 13

2.1.1 Sustainability, Sustainable development and Sustainable Tourism ............................................... 13

2.2 Sustainable Tourism and Promotion ..................................................................................... 18

2.2.1 Marketing Mix ................................................................................................................................ 20

2.2.2 Promotion ....................................................................................................................................... 21

CHAPTER 3: ECUADOR ......................................................................................................................... 26

3.1 Tourism History of Ecuador ................................................................................................... 27

3.2 Organization of the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador ............................................................. 29

3.3 Sustainable Tourism in Ecuador ............................................................................................ 31

3.3.1 Sustainable Tourism Promotion in Ecuador ................................................................................... 34

3.3.1.1 Tourism Promotion Strategies of Ecuador .............................................................................. 37

3.4 China and Ecuador ................................................................................................................. 42

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 46

4.1 Research Approach ................................................................................................................ 46

4.2 Research Design..................................................................................................................... 46

4.3 Data Collection Methods ....................................................................................................... 48

4.3.1.1 Questionnaire for Chinese Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong about

their view on Ecuador and their tourism preferences ........................................................................ 48

4.3.1.2 Questionnaire for Tour Operators & Travel Agencies about Promotion Strategies to attract

Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador ...................................................................................................... 50

4.4 Research Sampling Technique ............................................................................................... 52

4.5 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 52

CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH FINDINGS ........................................................................................................ 53

5.1 Research Findings of the Questionnaires for Chinese Citizens in ......................................... 53


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Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong about their ......................................................... 53

View on Ecuador and their Tourism Preferences ........................................................................ 53

5.2 Findings of the Questionnaires for Tour Operators & Travel Agencies about Promotion Strategies to

attract Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador .................................................................................. 72

5.3 Findings of the Questionnaires for Representatives of Ecuador about the Tourism Promotion of Ecuador

in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong ........................................................................ 82

CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS .............................................................................................. 90

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS................................................................................................................... 99

7.1 Summary of Findings ............................................................................................................. 99

7.2 Suggestions and Recommendations .................................................................................... 101

7.3 Limitations ........................................................................................................................... 102

7.4 Suggestions for Future Research ......................................................................................... 103

REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................ 104

APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................ 112

Appendix A: 10 Reasons to visit Ecuador .................................................................................. 112

Appendix B : Questionnaire for Chinese Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong about their

View on Ecuador and their Tourism Preferences ...................................................................... 113

Appendix C: Questionnaire for Representatives of Ecuador about the Tourism Promotion of Ecuador in

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong .......................................................................... 120

Appendix D: Questionnaire for Tour Operators and Travel Agencies about Promotion Strategies to Attract

Chinese Tourists to Visit Ecuador .............................................................................................. 123

Appendix E: Social Media Channels used to get Responses to Online Questionnaire .............. 127

Appendix F: QR code for Questionnaire of Chinese Citizens about their View on Ecuador and their Tourism

Preferences ................................................................................................................................ 128

Appendix G: Holidays in China in 2014 ............................................................................................... 128


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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Arrivals by Country of Origin from 2007 to 2012............................................................... 10

Table 2: Agenda 21 for Travel and Tourism ...................................................................................... 15

Table 3: Sustainable Tourism Principles ........................................................................................... 16

Table 4: Positive and negative sides of the relationship of Tourism & Sustainable Development ... 17

Table 5: Promotion tools .................................................................................................................... 22

Table 6: Guidelines for Sustainable Tourism Promotion................................................................... 24

Table 7: Administrative Zones Jurisdiction of Ecuador .................................................................... 29

Table 8: Commandments PIMTE old and new changes .................................................................... 33

Table 9: The distribution by market importance ................................................................................ 38

Table 10: Product type and Priority of Product Promotion ............................................................... 39

Table 11: Ecuadorian cultural activities in China .............................................................................. 43

Table 12: China’s Approved Destination Status (as of July 2010) .................................................... 44

Table 13: Knowledge about Ecuador ................................................................................................. 61

Table 14: Sources of Information about Ecuador .............................................................................. 63

Table 15: Tourism days and spending forecast .................................................................................. 68

Table 16: Profile of Chinese travellers to Ecuador according to tour operators ................................ 73

Table 17: Main promotion activities to attract Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador ........................... 77

Table 18: Reasons for saying “Yes” or “No” to promote Ecuador with a sustainable tourism

approach ............................................................................................................................................. 79

Table 19: Reason for saying “No” or “Do not know” ....................................................................... 80

Table 20: Suggestions for the Ecuadorian tourism promotion organizations to attract more Chinese

travellers ............................................................................................................................................. 81

Table 21: Actual situation of Chinese travellers visiting Ecuador ..................................................... 82

Table 22: Other characteristics of Chinese travellers that go to Ecuador .......................................... 84

Table 23: Justification for suggesting China as a priority tourism market for Ecuador .................... 85

Table 24: Tourism promotion process of Ecuador for the Chinese market ....................................... 86

Table 25: Tourism promotion strategies of Ecuador for the Chinese market .................................... 87

Table 26: Agreements and future plans to attract more Chinese travellers to Ecuador ..................... 88

Table 27: Suggestions to attract more Chinese Visitors to Ecuador .................................................. 89


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: South America Map ............................................................................................................ 26

Figure 2: Organization Chart of the Tourism Public Sector in Ecuador ............................................ 30

Figure 3: Sustainable Tourism Elements ........................................................................................... 32

Figure 4: Research Design of this Thesis........................................................................................... 47

Figure 5: Place of birth....................................................................................................................... 53

Figure 6: Place of birth in China ........................................................................................................ 54

Figure 7: Birth region in China .......................................................................................................... 54

Figure 8: Place of residence ............................................................................................................... 55

Figure 9: Gender ................................................................................................................................ 55

Figure 10: Age ................................................................................................................................... 56

Figure 11: Marital status .................................................................................................................... 56

Figure 12: Education level ................................................................................................................. 57

Figure 13: Occupation ........................................................................................................................ 57

Figure 14: Monthly income Chinese Yuan ........................................................................................ 58

Figure 15: Monthly income Hong Kong dollars ................................................................................ 58

Figure 16: Languages ......................................................................................................................... 59

Figure 17: Number of spoken languages per participant ................................................................... 59

Figure 18: Detail of number of languages spoken by participants .................................................... 60

Figure 19: Heard about Ecuador ........................................................................................................ 61

Figure 20: Knowledge about Ecuador ............................................................................................... 62

Figure 21: Dendogram of knowledge about Ecuador ........................................................................ 62

Figure 22: Sources of information about Ecuador ............................................................................. 63

Figure 23: Other sources for knowing about Ecuador ....................................................................... 63

Figure 24: Promotion tool preferences............................................................................................... 64

Figure 25: Location of Ecuador ......................................................................................................... 64

Figure 26: Interest of visit Ecuador.................................................................................................... 65

Figure 27: Perceptual map for “Yes” answers ................................................................................... 65

Figure 28: Perceptual map for “No” answers .................................................................................... 66

Figure 29: Destination preferences in Ecuador .................................................................................. 67

Figure 30: Travel companion preference ........................................................................................... 67

Figure 31: Preferred travel arrangement ............................................................................................ 68

Figure 32: Preferred length of stay .................................................................................................... 69

Figure 33: Preferred travel budget ..................................................................................................... 69

Figure 34: Favourite tourism activities .............................................................................................. 70

Figure 35: Most important factors for choosing a tourism destination .............................................. 70

Figure 36: Is sustainable tourism important? ..................................................................................... 71

Figure 37: Direct flight issue ............................................................................................................. 71

Figure 38: Travel time to Ecuador ..................................................................................................... 71

Figure 39: Suggestions to promote the tourism of Ecuador for Chinese travellers ........................... 72

Figure 40: Age ................................................................................................................................... 73

Figure 41: Main expectations and needs of Chinese travellers .......................................................... 74

Figure 42: Customers complaints about unfulfilled travel expectations in Ecuador ......................... 74

Figure 43: Performance of company bringing Chinese visitors to Ecuador ...................................... 75

Figure 44: Perception of Ecuador for tour operators ......................................................................... 75

Figure 45: Most attractive destinations in Ecuador for Chinese travellers ........................................ 76


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Figure 46: Current good-seller tourism products of Ecuador ............................................................ 76

Figure 47: Preferred destination of Chinese travellers in South America ......................................... 77

Figure 48: Main factors constraining Chinese visitors to travel to Ecuador ...................................... 78

Figure 49: Is sustainable tourism the best option to promote the tourism of Ecuador? ..................... 78

Figure 50: Is the MINTUR doing a good job promoting Ecuador for the Chinese Market? ............. 79

Figure 51: Chinese visitors age .......................................................................................................... 83

Figure 52: Occupation of Chinese travellers to Ecuador ................................................................... 83

Figure 53: City of origin of Chinese travellers to Ecuador ................................................................ 84

Figure 54: Preferred tourism activities of Chinese travellers in Ecuador .......................................... 84

Figure 55: Should China be a priority tourism market for Ecuador? ................................................. 85

Figure 56: Tourism promotion strategies of Ecuador for the Chinese market ................................... 88

Figure 57: Issues to attract Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador ........................................................ 89

Figure 58: Ecuadorian Airports and Runways .................................................................................. 94


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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this section is to introduce the subject of this research. Therefore, the statement of

the problem will be first presented in order to understand the general idea of this investigation.

Additionally, its rationale, research aim, objectives and scope will be indicated. Finally the

conceptual framework of this research generated by the researcher of this thesis will be presented.

1.0 Statement of the Problem

Tourism and travel is currently one of the fastest growing industries worldwide (World Tourism

Organization, 2010). In Ecuador, tourism is part of the priority sectors of its productive matrix

(Embassy of Ecuador of the People's Republic of China, 2013) and it represents its 4th main source

of income after oil, banana and shrimp exports (Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador, 2012).

Additionally, the Government of Ecuador considers that tourism is a strategic sector to diversify the

economy of the country, make it less dependent on the extraction of raw materials and the

Ecuadorian President, Economist Rafael Correa believes that a change to a real sustainable

development can be led by tourism (El Hoy, 2013).

As a matter of fact the vision of Ecuador is to become a sustainable tourism leading destination in

the world as it is mentioned in the main documents related to sustainable tourism and tourism

marketing of Ecuador, these are: PIMTE 2014 which is the Integral Plan of Tourism Marketing of

Ecuador 2014 (Plan Integral de Marketing Turístico del Ecuador 2014), and the PLANDETUR

2020, which is the Strategic Plan of Sustainable Tourism Development for Ecuador 2020 (Plan

Estratégico de Desarrollo de Turismo Sostenible para Ecuador 2020).

After checking these documents, it has been noticeable that the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador has

become aware of the potential of the Chinese tourism market in the world, by indicating that China

is always in the top 5 of the tourism spenders worldwide and also top outbound travellers. This is in

fact supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (2013) which informed that

China is currently the fastest-growing tourism source market in the world, and the top international

tourism spender since 2012.


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Moreover, as indicated by Euromonitor International (2013), China is a rapidly growing source

country for inbound arrivals in Ecuador which recorded a 30% increase in the number of arrivals

during 2012 (Please refer to table 1).

Table 1: Arrivals by Country of Origin from 2007 to 2012

Source: Euromonitor International, 2013

Also, Euromonitor International (2013) acknowledges that China together with India were the

source countries to record the highest growth of incoming tourist receipts in Ecuador during the

year 2012 as illustrated in the below table:

Table 2: Incoming Tourist Receipts by Geography (US$ million)

Source: Euromonitor International, 2013


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This table also shows that the United States had the highest level of spending in Ecuador during

2012 with a total of ca. US$288 million, followed by Colombia with US$109 million, and Spain

with US$91 million. These 3 countries are part of the key tourism markets of Ecuador due to their

high level of incoming tourism receipts or number of arrivals in Ecuador. Nevertheless, China with

the tourism potential that it represents to the world and in this particular case to Ecuador, it does not

belong to the key tourism markets of this Southamerican country and the tourism promotion of

Ecuador for the Chinese market faces many obstacles such as lack of direct flights to the region,

long routes to get to Ecuador, the need for a visa (El Hoy, 2013), no official department in the

Ministry of Tourism that coordinates the promotional efforts for the Chinese Market, low awareness

of the tourism offer of Ecuador among Chinese citizens and other issues which keep constraining

Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador.

Finally, the most recent statistics of the number of Chinese tourists visiting Ecuador in 2013 do not

look very promising. According to the National Direction of Migration of Ecuador (2013) the

number of Chinese tourists who arrived in Ecuador from January to December 2013 totalled 14,735

and in the case of Hong Kong only 255 people arrived during the same period.

1.1 Rational

This research will contribute to the understanding of the present situation of the tourism promotion

of Ecuador for the Chinese market in order to help Ecuador to position itself as a leading

sustainable tourism destination for the right Chinese tourist segment.

From personal communications with the Ministry of Tourism it has been acknowledged that this

institution wants to strengthen its tourism offer for the Chinese market and for this purpose it is

planning to open a department that will coordinate the tourism promotion for Chinese travellers

from 2015. Hence, the current research will help this government institution as well as other

tourism stakeholders of Ecuador interested in the Chinese market to gain an in-depth understanding

of the characteristics and demands of Chinese travellers which should be considered for the

formulation or improvement of tourism promotion strategies to convince them to visit Ecuador.

Finally, this study will also help Chinese travel agents, tour operators, entrepreneurs or people in

general who would like to know about Ecuador and want to visit this wonderful country mainly for

tourism or to offer tourism packages to Chinese citizens who are interested in sustainable tourism.


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1.2 Research Aim

The main aim of this thesis research is to assist Ecuador in promoting its tourism for the Chinese

market taking into consideration a sustainable tourism approach in order to achieve its vision of

becoming a leading sustainable tourism destination.

1.3 Research Objectives

To understand the meaning of sustainable tourism in order to know how to promote Ecuador as a

leading sustainable tourism destination.

To investigate the actual situation of tourism promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese market.

1.4 Research Scope

This research will focus on 4 main cities in China, namely: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and

Hong Kong. The first three cities are part of this study since the Consulates and commercial offices

of Ecuador that have to do with its tourism promotional activities are located there. In the case of

Hong Kong, this city was chosen by the author of this dissertation since she lives there and this city

does not have any office dealing with the promotion of tourism of Ecuador on site.

Moreover, this investigation will concentrate on the element of promotion of the marketing mix to

understand the tourism promotion of Ecuador. Therefore the other elements of the marketing mix

will be briefly indicated.


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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the literature existing on the subject of sustainable tourism

promotion for destinations, analyse the previous works within this field and place the present thesis

research within this context.

With the aim of providing a better understanding of this topic, this chapter will be divided into two

main sections which are related to the research objectives of this dissertation. These are:

2.1 Sustainable tourism: This refers to the first objective of this research.

2.2 Tourism Promotion: This relates to the second research objective of this thesis.

2.1 Sustainable Tourism

To define sustainable tourism is not an easy task since this term together with sustainability and

sustainable development are very often used interchangeably in tourism literature (Liu, 2003).

Thus, it is necessary to comprehend the meaning of each of these terms. In this sense, this section

will first present a description of the main terms related to sustainable tourism, i.e: sustainability

and sustainable development, in order to clarify these concepts and find their differences and

relationship with sustainable tourism.

Attention is then driven to the second section of this chapter which will refer to sustainable tourism

marketing in order to have a more complete understanding of the promotion aspect of sustainable

tourism which is part of the main themes of this research.

2.1.1 Sustainability, Sustainable development and Sustainable Tourism

According to Chhabra (2010), the notion of sustainability can be traced back to the thirteenth

century but it was in the 1970s when it gained real attention in the environmental literature

(Kamara, Coff and Wynne 2006). Callicot and Mumford (1997) describe sustainability as “meeting

human needs without compromising the health of ecosystems”. This definition clearly focuses on

the needs of human beings which should not put ecosystems in risk.


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Additionally, Bramwell & Lane (2008) indicate that sustainability cannot simply be

a‘green’or‘environmental’concern, no matter how crucial those aspects of sustainability are. They

further indicate that a truly sustainable society is one where wider questions of social needs and

welfare, and economic opportunity are integrally related to the environmental constraints imposed

by supporting ecosystems and the climate. In this respect Agyeman and Evans (2004:157) argue for

a ‘move away from the dominant orientation of “environmental sustainability” to represent “just

sustainability”, which as stated by Bramwell & Lane (2008) would involve concerns about social

justice and about understanding that contested term and to put it into practice.

Therefore, sustainability is not only about meeting the needs of human beings, respecting the

ecosystem, or solely about economic sustainable growth. It is about these three elements: society,

environment and economy, interacting together and finding a symbiotic way for their balance and

benefit for the present and future times.

Focusing now on the concept of sustainable development, this term started to be heard since 1980

with publications of the World Conservation Strategy and the Brandt Commission Report which

highlighted the plight of the environment with economic development (Romeril, 1998). To be exact

it was in 1987 when the Brundtland Report entitled “Our Common Future” defined sustainable

development as “development that meets the needs of the today’s generation without compromising

the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and

Development, 1987). From this point of view it seems that the human needs and the time in which

these are met, are the main focus. Nonetheless, as stated by Buckler (1998) sustainable development

goes beyond that as it addresses economic growth and societal well being within the limits of the

carrying capacity of the planet Earth. Chhabra (2010) adds that this development refers to a mode of

resource utilization and explains that the concern about sustainable development occurred partly

because of increasing environmental consciousness and partly from the revelation that tourism

generates negative impacts (Chhabra, 2010). Hence, more elements are added together to this

concept, namely: human needs and well-being, resource utilization, environmental and economic

concerns as well as tourism impacts. In fact, as per Buckler (1998), the report of Brundtland

enabled the way for debate of the tourism industry within the environmental context and this led to

the Earth Summit in June 1992 (Buckler, 1998). During this summit the Agenda 21 for travel and

tourism was adopted and this represented the first major consensus on the environment that was

negotiated at an international level (Buckler). The following table presents some of the principles of

the Agenda 21which are pertinent to sustainable development for the travel and tourism industry:


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Source: World Tourism Organization, 1995

The information that appears in this table is very important since it represents many of the key

themes and ideas about the relationship between sustainable development and travel and tourism

expressed in key words such as: people, ecosystem and international laws that protect the

environment, sustainable patterns of consumption, sustainable economic systems, peace, protection,

local community engagement, forecasting natural disasters, job creation for vulnerable groups in the

travel and tourism industry, cultural appreciation and support. All of them are necessary for a

sustainable development in tourism.

To establish a more clear definition and relationship between sustainability, sustainable

development and sustainable tourism it might be helpful to consider the official and most simple

definition given by the World Tourism Organization (2014) about sustainable tourism which states

that it is a: “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and

environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host

communities”. This definition shows that tourism in order to be sustainable should consider many

factors influencing tourism such as the economy, society, environment, visitor needs, host

communities and the whole tourism industry. On top of that, it is about current and future impacts

that influence the economy, environment and society of a place which suggest that tourism to be

Table 2: Agenda 21 for Travel and Tourism


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sustainable must be aware of these impacts and hence tourism managers should have short and long

term visions and plans to tackle these impacts.

Moreover, UNEP and WTO (2005) state that sustainable tourism development management

practices and strategies can be applied to all types of destinations and to all forms of tourism which

includes niche tourism segments or even mass tourism. Nonetheless, authors such as Butler (1991)

stated that mass tourism had nothing to do with sustainable tourism as mass tourism is conceived to

be “destructive”, “bad” and large or unsustainable in scale; whereas sustainable tourism is perceived

as “good”, “gentler” and small in scale.

Conversely, academics such as Trevor Sofield believe that mass tourism can be sustainable if

managed effectively. This is supported by Mowforth and Munt (1998) who expressed that mass

packaged tours may be just as sustainable as some of the new forms of tourism. Additionally, Deng,

King & Bauer (2002) stated that sustainable tourism can only be achieved when the behaviour of

destination managers, stakeholders, and tourists is ecologically, economically and ethically

responsible (Deng, King, & Bauer, 2002). Therefore, sustainable tourism must be seen as a goal for

the tourism industry which can occur if it is managed properly.

This is certainly not an easy task but to make it possible certain sustainability principles must be

followed and these relate to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism

development which together should have a suitable balance to guarantee the long-term

sustainability of tourism (UNEP & WTO, 2005). The below table shows the three main sustainable

tourism principles:

Table 3: Sustainable Tourism Principles

Key theme Description of Principle

Environment

Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element

in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and

helping to conserve biodiversity and natural heritage.

Socio-cultural aspect

Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their

built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to

inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.

Economy

Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic

benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable

employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host

communities and contributing to poverty alleviation. Source: UNEP & WTO, 2005


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Additionally, UNEP & WTO (2005) express that sustainable tourism development needs the

informed participation of all relevant stakeholders and strong political leadership to ensure wide

participation and consensus building. These two institutions also acknowledge that sustainable

tourism is a continuous process and therefore it is necessary to monitor tourism impacts constantly

and introduce the necessary corrective and/or preventive measures when required. Finally as part of

sustainable tourism, the awareness about sustainability should be raised for tourists, sustainable

tourism practices should be promoted amongst them and their satisfaction levels should remain high

(UNEP & WTO, 2005).

Another necessary point to make about the relationship between sustainable development and

tourism is that there are positive and negative sides of this relationship. UNEP & WTO (2005),

have summarised these impacts in the following way:

Table 4: Positive and negative sides of the relationship of Tourism & Sustainable

Development

Positive side

Tourism offers an increasing source of

opportunities for enterprise development and

job creation.

Tourism stimulates investment and support for

local services even in remote communities.

Tourism brings tangible economic value to

natural and cultural resources which can result

in direct income from visitor spending for

their conservation and a stronger support for

conservation from local communities.

Tourism can be a force for inter-cultural

understanding and peace.

Negative Side

Tourism can place direct pressure on fragile

ecosystems causing degradation of the physical

environment and disruption to wildlife.

Tourism can exert considerable pressure on host

communities and lead to disarticulation of traditional

societies.

Tourism can compete for the use of scarce resources

such as water and land.

Tourism can be a significant contributor to local and

global contamination.

Tourism can be a vulnerable and unstable source of

income due to its sensitivity to environmental and

social conditions of places.

Source: UNEP & WTO, 2005

The list of advantages and disadvantages of this relationship and interaction between tourism and

sustainable development serves as a reference to understand not only the relationship of these terms

but also to be aware that if tourism is not developed with a sustainable approach the consequences

would be disastrous, but if sustainable development is part of tourism the benefits for all tourism

stakeholders, the environment and the economy of the places where it is applied will be greater and

alive for a long period. Hence as stated by UNEP & WTO (2005) the net result of this relationship


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is that all those involved in tourism are conscious of the huge responsibility they have to implement

sustainable development. However, it is not enough to realize of this responsibility and just accept

it. It is necessary to have a strong conviction, initiative to take action and self-interest about

sustainable tourism development (UNEP & WTO) in order to find the balance of the three

dimensions of sustainability. Moreover just the key theme of all the words that have been discussed

and which is represented in the verb “sustain” gives already a lot of hints to understand that it is

important to “maintain” the balance among the 3 dimensions of sustainability in order to keep a

natural environment, have healthy communities and achieve economic vitality.

2.2 Sustainable Tourism and Promotion

After understanding the meaning of sustainable tourism it is now necessary to link it with one of the

key themes of this research which is tourism promotion.

First of all promotion is part of the marketing mix and this is in turn part of the literature of

destination marketing. However, as stated by Buhalis (2000), there are only a few textbooks which

examine destination marketing (Heath and Wall, 1992; Goodall and Asworth, 1988). Additionally,

He further indicates that this can also be noticed in the academic literature published in journals and

other scientific publications. Moreover, Buhalis expresses that the inadequacy of destination

marketing literature might reflect the interest of researchers in the impacts of tourism on

destinations and this could be a reason why the marketing and management of destinations is often

left to the tourism industry people and consultants but it is not discussed in academic debates nor

the literature.

Additionally, authors such as Ryan (1991) indicate that governments and companies that deal with

tourism have applied the marketing mix partially by only using the element of promotion and giving

a little attention to its other components. Moreover, Buhalis (2000) states that tourism destinations

have suffered because they wrongly assumed that the higher the number of tourists, the higher the

benefits they could achieve. With this regard, he explains that in order to avoid over-exploitation of

resources, limits on the development of tourism activity should be established. Hence, the answer to

the success of tourism lies not solely on a huge number of visitors and the profits or other

advantages that this might bring, it needs to be measured and controlled. In addition, this shows

concern on one of the dimensions of sustainable tourism, namely: the environment and the optimal

use of its resources.


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Buhalis (2000) also indicates that despite the fact that marketing has often been thought as an

enemy of sustainability, destination authorities and other tourism actors should realize that strategic

marketing ought to be used to achieve tourism destination policies. He further explains that if this is

done, the right target markets will be identified and this will bring a maximisation of economic

benefits at the local level without endangering local resources. Moreover, he states that a suitable

communication strategy should support tourism destination authorities to communicate their

message and promote environmentally friendly practices locally. All these explanations show a

clear concern about sustainable tourism marketing which as stated by Sadiki (2012) was not until

the mid-1980’s that its theory and concern for green practices appeared.

Authors such as Jamrozy (2007) point out that marketing of tourism in a sustainable manner can be

seen as a paradigm shift. He contends that tourism marketing can be integrated in a way that it will

not disrupt the natural sustainability of the surroundings and this could relate it to concepts such as

green marketing as this latter takes into consideration the environment, quality of life and green

relations. The opposite of this, Jamrozy acknowledges is economical marketing as this focuses on

economic growth and consumption. Hence, this author indicates that sustainable tourism marketing

will combine green and economical marketing together with societal influences. He gives a very

clear explanation about sustainable tourism marketing by indicating that three main factors are part

of it. The first factor is the understanding of people that tourism is a phenomenon of sustainable

living practices. The second one he indicates is the connection of stakeholders to the tourism system

and the last one is achieving sustainable marketing goals through profit and non-profit institutions.

In simple words, as mentioned in the previous section about the definition of sustainable tourism, it

is about a continuous process or living system where all tourism stakeholders must be conscious

about their responsibility in working towards sustainable tourism.

With this regard, Belz & Peattie (2012) indicate something similar by stating that sustainability

marketing, relates to the sustainable development agenda of a product or service and that its

marketing will include planning, organizing, implementing and controlling programmes as well as

marketing resources to satisfy consumer’s wants and needs while considering social and

environmental criteria and meeting corporate objectives. This statement is clearly more focused on

sustainability marketing in general and not specifically for tourism, however the activities required

to make sustainable tourism marketing works are exactly the same.


20

Other authors such as Gilmore, Carson and Ascencao (2007) define sustainable tourism marketing

as a strategy in which the objectives are to understand the interaction between the organization

managing a site and surrounding natural forces, on approach to create a social, economic and

environmentally balanced forum. This definition shows once again the three dimensions of

sustainability and it relates them to the organizations in destinations or destination management

organizations (DMO).

Morrison (2013) indicates that DMOs are teams of tourism professionals that lead and coordinate

all tourism stakeholders. He points out that a DMO should be a catalyst and champion for

sustainability within its destination and that there are many ways to accomplish sustainable tourism.

One way to do this is through promotion in the way of informing tourism stakeholders such as tour

operators of best practices in sustainability programme applications; assuring local communities

that sustainable tourism will not affect their resources; creating public awareness through brochures,

websites and media coverage to support sustainable tourism (Sadiki, 2012); among other initiatives

which will help in the process of promoting destinations with a sustainable tourism approach. As

the focus of this research is mainly the tourism promotion of Ecuador and promotion is a

component of the marketing mix, the next section will explain about it.

2.2.1 Marketing Mix

According to Chhabra (2010) since 1960’s the 4P’ classification of the marketing mix done by

McCarthy’s has been the dominant paradigm. This classification is comprised of product, price,

place (distribution), and promotion and its basic idea is that promotion strategies for a product need

to consider other features which are the product, price and place to be successful. Nevertheless, this

is a more business focus approach and some authors such as Morrison (2002) state that recent

studies have suggested that there are other factors which should be considered as part of the

marketing mix for tourism destinations and these include: partnership, people, packaging and

programming. These factors will be briefly explained as follows and special emphasis will be then

driven to the component of promotion.

Product: Mill and Morrison (2012) describe destination products as all the components of what a

destination offers to visitors which include: attractions and events, facilities (hotels, restaurants,

etc.) transportation, infrastructure, hospitality resources (people, service, hospitality, etc.)


21

Price: It refers to the monetary value that is paid for a tourism product. Consumers often use price

to measure product quality. As stated by Morrison (2013) a destination where the prices are high

may earn a reputation of being exclusive or luxury-oriented, while a destination with low prices can

be viewed as a place for mass tourism.

Place: This component represents the distribution and the online and traditional travel trade

channels that destination management organizations use to attract visitors to the destination

(Morrison, 2013). This distribution can be direct when DMOs establish a direct contact with

potential visitors or it can be indirect through travel trade intermediaries such as travel agents,

meeting planners, tour operators or wholesalers (Chhabra, 2010).

Packaging: Packaging is the combination of related and complementary hospitality and tourism

services and facilities into a single-price offering (Morrison, 2010). It means assembling facilities

and services to match market needs (Chhabra, 2010).

Programming: It refers to the many opportunities for destinations to arrange special activities or

programmes that are attractive to visitors such as festivals (Morrison, 2013).

Partnership: It is about combining forces with other players of tourism destinations (Morrison

2013) cooperative advertising and other collaborative efforts (Chhabra, 2010).

People: It relates to both the hosts (hospitality resources) and the guests (tourists) as Morrison

(2013) indicates or manager and employees (Chhabra, 2010).

Having explained briefly about the 7 components of marketing mix, the following section will

concentrate on its 8 component, i.e: promotion.

2.2.2 Promotion

Promotion is about communication, it is essentially the development of communicating channels

with clientele and other stakeholders to increase awareness and persuade to purchase products

(Buhalis, 2000). Destination promotion requires a co-ordinated campaign and message for all local

principals and suppliers (Buhalis). Authors such as Heath & Wall (1992), Chhabra (2010), Kotler,

Bowen and Makens (2014) indicate that there are steps to follow for promotion to be effective in


22

tourism destinations. All these authors coincide that the first step is to identify target audiences,

followed by determining the communication objectives such as awareness knowledge, liking,

preference, conviction or purchase (Chhabra, 2010). Heath and Wall (1992) suggest that the third

step should be to determine the promotional appropiation which refers to make decions about how

much should be budgeted for promotion. However, Chabbra and Kotler et al. look at promotional

budgets as a separate element of this process and they indicate that designing the communication

message comes first in order to select the communication channels to be used which could be

personal as face to face communications or non-personal as billboards; select the message source

and collect feedback of the target audience.

With regards to budget promotion decisions, the three main methods to apply according to Heath,

Wall and Kotler et al. are: the affordable method which means that companies will set their

promotional budget according to what they can afford during a particular period; the competitive-

parity method which matches the competitor’s budget promotion; and the objective-and task

method which is believed to be the most objective and because marketers define specific tourims

promotion objectives, determine tasks necessary to achieve those objectives and they estimate the

cost of performing them (Heath & Wall, 1992; Kotler et al. 2014).

Moreover, this process of steps for promotion involves the use of promotion tools which should be

integrated carefully. This is known as IMC or integrated marketing communications (Kotler et al.,

2014). Nonetheless, designing a cost-effective promotional mix is not an easy task due to the

diversity of tourism supplier at destinationas and consumers around the world (Buhalis, 2000).

Each promotion tool has a unique characteristics and costs according to Kotler et al., hence these

must be understood by tourism destination marketers to create the right mix. The following table

summarises the main promotional tools and characteristics based on the literature review conducted

by the author of this thesis:

Table 5: Promotion tools

Promotion tool Main characteristics

Advertising

It allows the seller to repeat a message many times (Kotler et al., 2014)

It creates awareness and improves understanding (Chhabra, 2010)

Estimulates quick sales (Kotler et al., 2014)

It can reach masses of geographically dispersed buyers and at a low cost

per exposure. (Kotler et al., 2014)

Personal Selling Ability to close sales, to hold customer’s attention and gain immediate


23

feedback (Chhabra, 2010)

Buyer usually feels a greater need to listen and respond (Kotler et al.,

2014)

Sales Promotion

Ability to add excitement to a service or product and rewards quick

response. (Chhabra, 2010; Kotler et al., 2014)

It can be launched with low initial investments such as printing coupons.

(Chhabra, 2010)

Public Relations

It is beliavable as new stories, features and events seem more real to

readers than ads. (Buhalis, 2000; Kotler et al., 2014)

Messages are perceived as news not as sales-directed communication.

(Kotler et al., 2014)

Direct Marketing

Directed to a specific person.

Messages can be prepared very quickly and according to a specific

consumer.

Interactive between the marketing team and the consumer.

Good to build one-to-one customer relationships.

The characteristics mentioned in the above table show mainly the good side of each tool.

Nonetheless, it is important to consider that these have also shortcomings. For instance although

advertising reaches many people quickly, it is impersonal and therefore it is not as persuasive as a

company salesperson (Kotler et al., 2014). Moreover it does not have the ability to close sales or to

quickly adjust messages, it is difficult to get immediate responses or actions of customers and

adverisement clutter which refers to the thousands of ads that compete for attention (Chhabra,

2010). In the case of personal selling it represents a high cost per contact due to the travel costs

incurred by sales people or it might unable to reach some customers because they might not like

personal sellers or they do not need their help (Chhabra). Regarding sales promotions, benefits are

only short term and it is innefective in building long-term loyalty for products (Chhabra, 2010;

Kotler et al., 2014). Public relations and publicity according to Chhabra (2010) are difficul to

arrange consistently and coverage is totally at the discretion of media people. Finally direct

marketing might face disadvantages do not address the specific customers preferences. All these

tools.

All these tools are useful in promoting tourism destinations. Morrison (2013) stated that most

tourism organizations place greater emphasis on advertising and sales. Nonetheless, this does not

mean that these tools are the best because DMOs must analyze their target audiences and they might

have different preferences. Moreover external forces such as technology should also be considered,

especially nowadays when DMOs are strongly involved in digital marketing and especially with

promotion through the World Wide Web, e-mail, mobiles phones and social media (Morrison,

2013).


24

Moreover there are plenty of strategies that can be considered for using promotion tools effectively.

These could be: type of product and market (Kotler et al. 2014), which as its name suggests

promotes the tourism products of destintions based on the preferences of the target market; push

versus pull strategy that involves either “pushing” the tourism product thorugh distribution channels

to final consumers, or “pulling” final conumers primarily through advertising or consumer

promotion to induce them to buy a tourism product (Kotler et al.); buyer readiness state which

refers to the different stages of buyer readiness to buy a tourism product (Kotler et al.); and product

life-cycle stage which relates to the effects of different promotion tools and the stages of the tourism

product life cycle.

Based on all the last mentioned elements, it can be noticed that the literature on tourism promotion

is not very vast when it refers to sustainable tourism. There are many gaps since most of it is mainly

business-minded and might not reflect the three dimensions of sustainable tourism. Therefore, it is

important to mention specific guidelines for achieving this goal, and the most clear ones that could

be found by the researcher of this thesis are given by the UNEP & WTO (2005) and explained in

the next table:

Table 6: Guidelines for Sustainable Tourism Promotion

Theme Description

Product related Tourism products that are sustainable should be promoted which will raise the

profile and perfomance of those products and encourage their use.

Visitor related

Visitors behaviour should be influenced by informing them about sustainability

issues and encourage them to participate in activities that help to achieve

sustainable tourism. Visitor’s code should be created and promoted.

Target market The promotion for selected target markets must relate to the sustainable tourism

objectives of destinations.

Seasonality

reduction Off-seasons images and opportunites should be promoted to reduce seasonality.

Altenative

destinations

The benefits of visiting alternative destinations should be promoted to avoid

issues of carrying capacity, conflicts between destinations or stakeholders, etc.

Value

maximization

Value that can be retained locally should be maximised increasing spend per

head and length of stay

Transportation Use of more sustainable tourism transportion means should be encouraged

Authenticity What is promoted must relate to what visitors will actually find in the

destination.

Tourism

stakeholders

Tourist boards, local authorities, travel agents, tour operators, and all people

who have are part of the tourism system of a destination should cooperate to

achieve the goal of sustainable tourism.

Education Teaching and training about sustainable tourism should be promoted by the

relevant government authorities and interested bodies.


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To summarise this second chapter aimed to show the current state of research within tourism

promotion with a sustainable tourism approach. Its first part presented different definitions of

sustainable tourism and its differences and relationship with sustainability and sustainable

development in order to have a clear understanding on this key term which started to be heard and

considered gradually more important since 1980. The definition given by WTO (2014) is the one

that summarises and simplifies the concept of sustainable tourism the author of this research mainly

focuses on and which states that ST is “tourism that takes full account of its current and future

economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the

environment and host communities”. With the discussion on this first section, the first objective of

this thesis research which refers to understand the meaning of sustainable tourism in order to know

how to promote Ecuador as a leading sustainable tourism destination, is partially reached. Then, the

second section of this chapter concentrates on promotion with a sustainable tourism approach which

in turn relates to the second objective of this thesis that indicates the researcher wishes to

investigate the actual situation of tourism promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese market. Therefore

this objective is also partially attained based on the fact that the process of promoting destinations

with a sustainable tourism approach was discussed in this section by indicating the marketing mix

elements with special emphasis on promotion, integrated marketing communications, promotion

tools, strategies and guidelines to promote sustainable tourism.

In order to complete the fulfilment of these objectives, the next chapter about Ecuador will provide

significant contributions.


26

CHAPTER 3: ECUADOR

The Republic of Ecuador is located on the most westerly point of South America (See Figure 1) and

it has 271,000 sq. km. (Perrottet, 1995). The country has 24 provinces and four regions namely:

Coast, Highlands, Jungle and the Galapagos Islands. The remarkable geographical and cultural

contrasts between these regions in one country which is only small in territory are one of the

reasons that make Ecuador a fascinating place to visit (Perrottet, 1995).

Figure:

Source: Mapsofworld.com (January, 2013)

As Perrotet (1995) indicates, Ecuador took its name in the early 1800s from the Equatorial line that

runs through its heart. Additionally, thanks to its geographical location, the climate of Ecuador is

never extreme and it varies mainly by altitude rather than seasons (World Trade Press, 2010). The

driest seasons are between June and October but the sun shines all year round. Also, tropical rains

might occur during the “dry” season and temperature extremes go from 15°C (59°F) to 38°C

(100°F) throughout the entire country (World Trade Press, 2010). Moreover, it is important to

mention that weather patterns vary greatly among different geographical regions (Rachowiecki,

2001). For instance the Coast of Ecuador has a hot and humid climate which is influenced by the

Figure 1: South America Map


27

marine currents in the Pacific Ocean; the weather in the Ecuadorian highlands has average

temperatures of ca. 13°C (55°F); the jungle of Ecuador has a hot and humid climate; and the

Galápagos Islands are rather cooler (World Trade Press, 2010).

With regards to its population, Ecuador has 16’024.304 inhabitants according to the official website

of the Institute of Statistics and Census of Ecuador (INEC- Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y

Censos). It is a multicultural and multinational country where most of its citizens are mestizos, 14

ancestral nationalities exist and two of them live in voluntary isolation in the heart of the virgin

rainforest (Embassy of Ecuador of the People's Republic of China, 2013).

3.1 Tourism History of Ecuador

Due to its natural resources, its culture and weather, Ecuador has been for decades a very attractive

tourism destination. According to Mendoza (2008), this tourism potential made possible that since

1940 the first efforts to develop the tourism of Ecuador started. He indicates that in that decade the

first domestic airline of Ecuador was created under the name of SEDTA (Servicios Ecuatorianos de

Trasnportación Area) which means Ecuadorian services for air transportation and that this was a

German airline that operated in Ecuador but that was suspended due to the Second World War.

Other authors such as Echeverría & Lavanda (2007) expressed that the first company in offering

flights between some of the main cities in Ecuador, which included: Quito, Guayaquil, Manta,

Cuenca and Esmeraldas, was PANAGRA. They explain that this company started promoting a

tourism package of 21 days in South America and they included Ecuador in this offer. Additionally,

they claim that through training and experience, PANAGRA managed to encourage entrepreneurs

to create the first travel agency in Ecuador in 1947 with the name of Ecuadorian Tours.

Furthermore, Mendoza (2008) informed that during the government of Galo Plaza Lasso (1948-

1952), the first official tourism promotion of Ecuador took place thanks to the creation of a tourism

department in this country. He further explains that this office was in charge of making the first

tourism road show of Ecuador through the United States where mainly brochures and handicrafts of

Ecuador were distributed. Moreover, during this period and due to the support given in the

government of Plaza Lasso, two more travel agencies opened in Ecuador, namely: Metropolitan

Touring in the year 1950 and Turismundial in 1956 (Mendoza, 2008). Also, Echeverría & Lavanda

(2007) state that in 1969, Metropolitan touring was the first travel agency to offer tours to the


28

Galapagos Islands and that this company started to promote Ecuador and its tourism products

abroad through personal selling.

Mendoza (2008) also reports that in 1964 the Ecuadorian government created the Ecuadorian

Corporation of Tourism (CETURISMO – Corporación Ecuatoriana de Turismo) but in spite of this,

the tourism promotion of Ecuador was still under private sector control. Mendoza states that

although the international tourism of Ecuador had its first stage of development between 1950 and

1973, it is actually in the period of 1959 to 1973 that Ecuador finds a niche in the international

tourism market. Nonetheless, the greatest tourism development of Ecuador happens around the 80s

when new tourism service providers appeared at all levels (Echeverría & Lavanda, 2007).

Almost a decade after, on 10th August 1992 the Ministry of Information and Tourism was created

during the government of Sixto Durán Ballén as he believed that tourism was an activity that aimed

at the social and economic development of Ecuador (Echeverría & Lavanda, 2007).

Later in 1994, the tourism industry in Ecuador developed significantly and this motivated the

government to create two separate ministries, one for tourism and one for information and in this

way strengthen tourism activities in Ecuador (Echeverría & Lavanda, 2007). Subsequently, in 1999

the government of Ecuador under the mandate of Jamil Mahuad, put together the Ministry of

Tourism with the Ministry of Foreign Trade (Mendoza, 2008). Then in February 2000 the new

president of Ecuador Gustavo Noboa, decided to make changes again and the Ministry of Tourism

joined the Ministry of Environment. However, in the same year and only two months after this

decision, an executive decree was created and this granted independence to all ministries in Ecuador

which meant that the Ministry of Tourism was the only ministry in charge of the tourism activities

of Ecuador (Mendoza, 2008). From that time onwards, the Ministry of Tourism has been led by

many important Ecuadorian representatives who have a lot of experience in the administrative

management, promotion and also political field of Ecuador, among the most recognized are: María

Isabel Salvador (current President of the Governing Council of Galapagos), Freddy Ehlers (current

Secretary of Good Living) and Vinicio Alvarado (actual Secretary of the Public Administration of

Ecuador).

At the present time, the Ministry of Tourism is led by Sonia Naranjo, a well-educated Ecuadorian

woman who studied a Master Degree in Public Administration and International Development at

Harvard University and who worked for more than 5 years as General Coordinator of the


29

management of presidential compromises with the actual President of Ecuador, the Economist

Rafael Correa Delgado (Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador , n.d.).

3.2 Organization of the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador

The actual organizational structure of the Ministry of Tourism is shown in figure 2. This public

institution leads all touristic activities in Ecuador and it develops the tourism sector of this country

in a conscious, sustainable and competitive way. Due to the importance of tourism in Ecuador, the

government of this country has assigned 3 buildings for the headquarters of the Ministry of Tourism

which are closely located in one of the shopping districts of Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

Additionally and in order to follow the planning guidelines set by the Secretary of Planning and

Development of Ecuador, the country is divided into 10 administrative zones which integrate the

provinces of Ecuador in an strategic way for their development. Hence, the Ministry of Tourism

has its representatives and offices based on these 10 zones which focus their tourism efforts on their

specific areas.

Table 7: Administrative Zones Jurisdiction of Ecuador

Administrative Zones Jurisdiction

Zone 1: Esmeraldas, Carchi, Imbabura, Sucumbíos Zone 2: Napo, Orellana, Pichincha Zone 3: Pastaza, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Chimborazo Zone 4: Manabí, Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas Zone 5: Guayas, Los Rios, Peninsula de Santa Elena, Bolivar Zone 6: Azuay, Cañar, Morona Santiago Zone 7: El Oro, Loja, Zamora Chinchipe Zone 8: Guayaquil, Duran, Samborondon Zone 9: Distrito Metropolitano de Quito Island Zone: Galapagos


30

Figure 2: Organization Chart of the Tourism Public Sector in Ecuador


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3.3 Sustainable Tourism in Ecuador

The vision of Ecuador is to become a sustainable tourism leading destination in the world as it is

mentioned in the main documents related to sustainable tourism and tourism marketing of Ecuador,

these are: PIMTE 2014 which is the Integral Plan of Tourism Marketing of Ecuador 2014 (Plan

Integral de Marketing Turístico del Ecuador 2014), and the PLANDETUR 2020, which is the

Strategic Plan of Sustainable Tourism Development for Ecuador 2020 (Plan Estratégico de

Desarrollo de Turismo Sostenible para Ecuador 2020). The objectives of these plans and their

implementation have a long-term view and they surpass the management of the Ministry of

Tourism. Therefore, they represent an invitation to the coordinated work among all the tourism

system stakeholders of Ecuador.

Focusing on PLANDETUR 2020, it aims to strengthen until 2020 the integral sustainable tourism

development of Ecuador with a sectorial vision for the human development in harmony with nature

and with a solid institutional base. Maria Isabel Salvador, Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador from

2005-2007, stated that “Ecuador needs a sustainable tourism development that looks after our

historic and cultural richness, the environment, local communities and reactivates our economy”.

Hence, PLANDETUR 2020 is a way to do it. Moreover, this plan has very clear objectives to

achieve its aim, these are:

Generate a guiding process that coordinates the public, private and community efforts for

the sustainable tourism development of Ecuador, based on its territories and according to the

principles of poverty alleviation, equity, sustainability and decentralized management

(Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador, 2007).

Create the necessary conditions to make sustainable tourism a dynamic axis or main driver

of the Ecuadorian economy that aims at improving the life quality of its inhabitants and the

satisfaction of the current tourism demand, using the competitive advantages and unique

selling points of the country (Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador, 2007). The top 10 reasons

to visit Ecuador reflect its unique selling points (please see appendix A)

Include sustainable tourism in the State policy and the national planning of Ecuador to

strengthen its integral development and the rationalisation of its public and private inversion


32

(Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador, 2007). Additionally, an illustration of how sustainable

tourism is conceived through this plan is shown in the below figure:

Source: Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador (2007)

This illustration shows the basic concepts of sustainable tourism and the articulation of the three

dimensions of sustainability: society, environment and economy and elements that clearly support

sustainable development. These are mentioned throughout all the document of PLANDETUR but it

is recognized that this document takes more into consideration social and environmental

sustainability. That is why in the case of social sustainability elements, namely society equity,

visitor satisfaction, local control, physical integrity, cultural richness, community well-being, it is

suggested that they should be evaluated before the application of each suggested project in

PLANDETUR and indicators should be used for this purpose. These could include: level of interest

of local communities for sustainable tourism projects recommended in PLANDETUR 2020,

capacity of the local community to offer tourism services of high quality, among others (Ministerio

de Turismo del Ecuador, 2007).

With regards to environmental sustainability, PLANDETUR2020 mentions its elements include

biodiversity, eco-efficiency and environmental purity and these have been translated to the reality of

Ecuador, in the way of recommendations such as: respect the conservation guidelines of the

Ecuadorian government, zoning for conservation areas, monitoring of conservation activities in

Figure 3: Sustainable Tourism Elements


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tourism, coordinated work between the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador and the Ministry of the

Environment of Ecuador in sustainable tourism projects such as programs of sustainable tourism for

protected areas of Ecuador, nature-based tourism and community-based tourism, reduction of scarce

and non-renewable resources in the development and operation of tourism facilities and services,

training and education of sustainable tourism for tourism stakeholders of Ecuador, among other

suggestions.

Now, in respect to PIMTE 2014 it is an excellent guide for marketing Ecuador as a tourism

destination and although it does not focus solely on sustainable tourism, it does mention its

importance and priority in many sections. For instance in its vision it mentions that Ecuador has to

be conceived as a leading sustainable tourism destination at the international level and it refers to

many of the criteria that support this aim such as the fact that Ecuador has a constitution that gives

legal rights to nature, that human rights are recognised and that Ecuador is rich in cultural and

natural resources for tourism. Additionally, this document helps to understand the changes of

priorities in marketing the tourism of Ecuador through the changes made to commandments they

had from the period of 2003 to 2006 and the period of 2009 to 2014 as shown in the below table:

Table 8: Commandments PIMTE old and new changes

Commandments

PIMTE 2003 – 2006*

ECUADOR IS:

Main Changes New Commandments PIMTE 2009 – 2014

ECUADOR IS:

1. National Heritage:

Most divers country in

the world They merge the ideas

1+3+5 in one only

argument

1. MEGA-CONCENTRATION OF DIVERSITY:

The country of highest concentrated natural and

cultural diversity with regards to its space

2. Cultural Heritage:

A multicultural country

5. Everything is in short

distance

3. The recognized

warmth of Ecuadorians

It adds three ideas

which complements

the “well living”

2. GOOD LIVING

Its known quality of the Ecuadorians and its “well

living”

4. In the middle of the

world: it’s location and

climate

Without changes 3. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD

Its location and climate

Two new added

arguments

4. ECUADOR IS A COUNTRY WITH LATIN

AMERICAN MODERN FEATURES AND

TOURISTIC SERVICES OF

INTERNATIONAL QUALITY

A dynamic, educated and contemporary country

5. A COUNTRY COMPROMISED WITH

SUSTAINABILITY

Source: PIMTE 2014, Ministerio de Turismo del Ecuador


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The previous table is self-explanatory and special attention should be given to the section marked in

red as it shows the main changes occurred in this report whereby two new arguments are added and

one of them is the commandment of a country compromised with sustainability. Hence it is clear

that sustainability is very important for tourism marketing of Ecuador.

From personal communications with representatives of the Ministry of Tourism in Ecuador, it has

been acknowledged that the recommendations given in PLANDETUR 2020 or PIMTE 2014 have

been fulfilled partially and that most of them have been focused on the conservation of protected

areas in Ecuador which is an activity that has been mainly supported by the Ministry of Tourism of

Ecuador and the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador.

3.3.1 Sustainable Tourism Promotion in Ecuador

As it has been acknowledged, sustainable tourism plays a key role in Ecuador and promoting it is

crucial. In order to understand about the tourism promotional efforts Ecuador is doing to achieve

sustainable tourism, it is first necessary to mention about the tourism products that Ecuador

promotes.

According to the Ministry of Tourism (2007), this institution updated its tourism products shown in

the document of PIMTE 2014 for the creation of PLANDETUR 2020 and the result were 11 lines

of products which included: sun and beach; community-based tourism; theme parks, ecotourism and

nature-based tourism; sports tourism; adventure tourism; health tourism, agricultural tourism,

MICE tourism; and cruise tourism. Among these, the three main tourism products of Ecuador are

nature-based tourism, cultural tourism and sports and adventure tourism. The following tables show

the types of tourism in Ecuador and their main examples in the 4 regions of this country. It is

important to note that the places mentioned for each type of product have the best ranking based on

their uniqueness, intrinsic value, local meaning, demand concentration and prestige as presented in

the document of PLANDETUR 2020:


35

SPORTS AND ADVENTURE TOURISM

Galapagos Islands, Natural World Heritage: Darwin already said it, they are unique.

The Waterfalls Avenue, the single beauty of water.

Montañita, the surf capital of Ecuador.

Baños de Tungurahua, adventure, rest and enjoyment.

Quilotoa Lake, a volcano with a huge lake in its crater.

The Route of the Sun: Isla de la Plata, the saint church of the Valdivia’s culture.

The Avenue of the Volcanoes, in search of the Colossus.

ECOTOURISM

Galapagos Islands, Natural World Heritage Site: Darwin said it already, they are unique.

Yasuni National Park, International Biosphere Reserve.

Cuyabeno Fauna Production Reserve, the lake excursion in the Amazonas region of

Ecuador.

Sangay National Park, Natural World Heritage Site, 10 ecosystems in the Andean

Amazonas region of Ecuador.

Cotopaxi National Park, next to the volcano that people feel in love with.

Napo Wildlife Center, the new model for conservation.

Kapawi Ecological Reserve, nature reserve and ecolodge.

Mindo Nambillo Forest, the area of more biodiversity in the world.

Orellana’s Route, the discover of the Amazonas.

Puyango Forest, first place in the worldwide ranking of bird’s biodiversity.

The Route of the Sun: National Park Machalilla, natural museum of pre-Columbian

history of Ecuador and South America.

Podocarpus National Park, most southern protected area of Ecuador.

Amazonian Lodges, Amazonian project for accommodation.

Antisana Ecological Reserve, ecological area, hotspot of biodiversity.

Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, the highest mangroves of the world.

The Sun’s Route: Puerto Lopez, ecoturism destination of the Pacific zone.

Cajas National Park, lake complex.

Ecological Reserve of El Angel, water sponge of Ecuador.

Ecological Reserve of Limoncocha.

Ecological Reserve of Cayambe-Coca, vegetal and animal diversity of Ecuador.

Chimborazo Fauna Production Reserve.

Llanganates National Park, in search of the legend of the Inca’s treasure.


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CULTURAL TOURISM

Quito, World Heritage Site, it touches the sky.

Cuenca, World Heritage Site, nature and culture.

Otavalo and its indigenous market, intercultural capital of Ecuador.

Ingapirca, the Inca’s city.

Vilcabamba, the paradise of longevity.

Riobamba, the experience of the Andean railway to Alausi.

Hacienda San Agustin de Callo, historic hacienda of the Andes.

The Route of the Sun: Montecristi, the straw hut site.

Cotacachi, the market of leather.

AGRITOURISM

Journey of the Flavours…Cocoa, Banano , Coffee.

Route of the Flowers, plantations of Ecuadorian flowers.

COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM

San Miguel (Esmeraldas)

FUNDECOL (Esmeraldas)

Agua Blanca (Manabi)

Salando (Manabi)

Prodecos (Guayas)

San Clemente (Imbabura)

Manduriacos (Imbabura)

Junin (Imbabura)

Runa Tupari (Imbabura)

Yunguilla (Pichincha)

Pastocalle (Cotopaxi)

Salinas (Bolívar)

Casa Cóndor (Chimborazo)

Guargallá (Chimborazo)

Shayakrumi (Canar)

Kuya Llacta (Canar)

Kushiwaira (Azuay)

Principal (Azuay)

Saraguro (Loja)

Pacto Sumaco (Napo)

Salazar Aitana (Napo)

Runa Wasi (Napo)

Galeras (Napo)

Río Blanco (Napo)

Machacuyacu (Napo)

Capirona (Napo)

Wasila Talaq (Napo)

Chuva Urku (Napo)

Waysa yaku de Alukus (Napo)

Payacachi (Pastaza)


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MICE – Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions

Quito, World Heritage Site, it touches they sky.

Cuenca, World Heritage Site, nature and culture.

Guayaquil, main port of Ecuador and example of urban development of America.

HEALTH TOURISM

Papallacta, entry door to the Amazonian region of Ecuador.

Vilcabamba, the paradise of longevity.

Banos de Tungurahua, adventure, rest and enjoyment.

Puyo, biggest urban centre of the southern part of the Jungle of Ecuador.

3.3.1.1 Tourism Promotion Strategies of Ecuador

After knowing which the tourism products of Ecuador are, now it is time to explain about its

tourism promotion strategies which as indicated in PIMTE 2014 can be very varied and specific,

these are explained as follows:

Market Strategies: As the name of these strategies suggest, Ecuador classifies and prioritizes its

markets of operation according to three different types of markets: key markets, consolidation

markets and opportunity markets. Key markets add great value to the touristic activities of the

country as they can contribute with big volume of high spending tourists. These are markets which

need to be maintained, protected, strengthened and invested in. If the attention to this market is not

assured, the risk of negative impacts on the Ecuadorian tourism is high (Ministerio de Turismo del

Ecuador, 2009). With regards to consolidation markets, these are also important markets for

Ecuador whose figures of arrivals have relevance for the country but they are not at the level of key

markets, therefore marketing investments of these segments need to be maximised and raised so

they can form a part of the key markets. Finally opportunity markets refer to those markets which

do not represent a high volume of tourists or tourism receipts when compared with the other two

CRUISE TOURISM

Manta, entry port city for cruises and crib of straw and taba.

Napo River: fluvial cruises – Manatee Route, the Amazonian fluvial cruise.


38

markets (Ministerio de Turismo, 2009) but that might be of interest to Ecuador for being potential

tourism markets that could attract to Ecuador specific segments of tourists interested in a particular

tourism product. The Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador will invest in these markets only if there are

resources and opportunities for it, moreover the investment of promotion for opportunity markets

must be analized when it becomes necessary and according to the guidelines given in the PIMTE

2014 (Ministerio de Turismo, 2009). The subsequent table shows the countries of the world that

belong to one of these three market segments:

Table 9: The distribution by market importance

Market groups

Distribution of markets by type and group

Key markets Consolidation

markets

Opportunity

markets

1. North America Unites States Canada Mexico

2. Neighbour

Countries Colombia and Peru

3. Europe Spain, Germany

United Kingdom18,

France, Italy and

Holland

4. Argentina, Brazil,

Paraguay and

Uruguay

Argentina, Chile and

Brazil

5. 2H Countries Panama and

Venezuela

6. – Other markets Other countries

Source: Ministerio de Turismo, 2009

Functional promotion by priority of touristic products: Ecuador also apply functional promotion

by priority of tourism products strategies. These are: Key products or stars, consolidation products

and opportunity products and the promotion of the touristic products needs to be carried out in a

specific way for each strategy:

Key products or stars: products which add great value to the touristic activities of the country and

increase the arrivals, spending and touristic development in Ecuador. These all display and give

great relevance to the touristic marketing strategy and development of the country. Cultural tourism,

ecotourism or nature tourism as well as sport and adventure tourism are considered key products.


39

Consolidation products: products with high importance to the country but not as valuable as the

key products (Ministerio de Turismo, 2009). Products defined as consolidation products are

community tourism, MICE and cruise tourism.

Opportunity products: products with small volume in comparison with the above but interesting

for the country, as they attract clients to niche segments (Ministerio de Turismo, 2009). PIMTE

2014 explains that the marketing investment for this strategy needs to be very specific and

customized. The opportunity products of Ecuador are rural, health, sun and beach tourism as well as

theme park tourism. Table illustrates this explanation:

Table 10: Product type and Priority of Product Promotion

Product Type Priority of Product Promotion

1. Cultural tourism

KEY/STAR PRODUCTS 2. Ecotourism and nature tourism

3. Sport and adventure tourism

4. Community tourism

CONSOLIDATION PRODUCTS 5. Convention and congress

tourism

6. Cruse tourism

7. Beach and sun

OPPORTUNITY PRODUCTS 8. Health tourism

9. Agritourism

10. Theme parks

Source: Ministerio de Turismo, 2009

Positioning communication strategies: These strategies include different activities which are

explained below.

Promote the format of clusters as an optimal organisation of tourism products of the tourism

experience in Ecuador - The positioning of the tourism products of Ecuador behind the clusters,

must give the impression to the client of reaching a multi-experience with services of international

quality. Ecuador tourism products and packages should be promoted and sold in a way that they can

be included in at least two tourism worlds (MINTUR, 2009). The worlds of Ecuador refer to the 4

regions of the country, namely: coast, highlands, jungles and the Galapagos Islands.


40

Transmit the concept of a “unique mega – concentration of products with multi – experience

in diverse worlds”: This is about ensuring that tourists know that Ecuador has a concentration of

tourism products which offers to live multiple experiences in a multi-world country, which no other

place can offer (MINTUR, 2009). For example ecotourism can be enjoyed at the coast of Ecuador

but also in its highlands, Galapagos Islands and Amazonas region which are all easy accessible in

short distance. This provides a value unique and different to other competitive destinations.

Competitors can offer similar tourism products but never in such variety and with such special

combination through the geographic and human diversity which exist in Ecuador. For that reason

the strategy must take advantage and strengthen the concentration of the multi-experience in its

products (MINTUR, 2009).

Transmit the concept of four worlds integrated in one Ecuador: This means that Ecuador

should be always presented as four worlds in one, giving special emphasis on the experiences which

each world offers in a non-commercial but descriptive and interesting way. This in turn means that

no promotion of the individual worlds should be made but always Ecuador as a whole, as multi-

world. In this sense the objective is to strengthen the inter-world products and not to sell or promote

the worlds by itself (MINTUR, 2009).

Promote the idea of visiting always at least two worlds in Ecuador: In this way the concept of

Ecuador of being “where everything is close” and its “mega diversity” are one important

commercial strategy (MINTUR, 2009). The main idea is that tourists are encouraged to always visit

at least two worlds of Ecuador.

Promote the compromise of the Ecuadorian tourism with sustainability: Sustainability must be

a part of the communication message in a constant way. That means three key words, namely cool,

trustworthy and relationship-led. Cool refers to convey logical, near and active concepts; avoiding

an academic, scientific or simply “green” and “boring” approach (MINTUR, 2009). Trustworthy

means that the tourism promotion of Ecuador shows the country’s efforts to support sustainability

even if there are things which are not sustainable. This means, to show that Ecuador is working on

its way to achieve sustainable tourism and that the tourism industry is conscious about the fact that

this is a continuous and long-term process. Finally the relationship-led refers to transmit that

tourists are one of the key elements in the equation of sustainability because of its behaviour during

the visits, their contribution towards conservation and sustainability and their respect to the society

and culture.


41

Moreover, Ecuador applies direct and alternative marketing strategies as well as public

relations strategies in order to reach final consumers, the trade and media in a direct way and using

new technologies (MINTUR, 2009). This implies the promotion of the tourism brand of Ecuador,

the use of creative and informative advertising material for tourists and in different languages,

interactive tourism official web page (Ecuador.travel), insertion of Ecuador in international

specialized pages and themes pages (per tourism product) where it is promoted as tourism leader

(sustainable tourism forum, ecotourism forum, cultural tourism forum, specialized means of

communication, etc.), fares and international events participation, familiarization trips and press

travels, synergies with all tourism institutions which are interested whether public (for example

Embassies, Consulates, promotion institutions) or private to promote Ecuador’s tourism, roadshows

and videoconferences.

All these promotion strategies are used in Ecuador and what is important to note is that

sustainability is once again mentioned as part of the key messages and focus of it. The support of

other public institutions has been crucial for this strategies to work. For instance the Ministry of

Environment of Ecuador has supported major tourism promotional campaigns using social media

platforms and television advertising in order to increase the appreciation of Ecuador’s areas of

natural beauty (Euromonitor International, 2013).

At the local level, governments in the majority of Ecuador’s provinces have developed major

advertising campaigns to promote the tourist attractions on offer in their cities and remote areas and

one of the most successful campaigns took place in 2012 in Cuenca, one of the cultural UNESCO

World Heritage Sites of Ecuador (Euromonitor International, 2013).

Moreover, many international promotional campaigns have been launched. For instance

Euromonitor International (2013) reports that tourism campaigns of Ecuador in 2012 under the

slogans of “The best of South America” or “I discovered” took place in different European

countries with the intention of increasing demand for ecotourism, promote cultural tourism and

include aspect of the concept of “buen vivir” or good living which is an integral part of the attitude

towards life in Ecuador and it implies human being’s recognition as a whole and each person’s

harmony with her or himself, with other and with nature (Embassy of Ecuador of the People's

Republic of China, 2013). The slightly offbeat focus of the campaign attracted many audiences and

a gave a different insight into Ecuador’s appeal as an international travel and tourism destination


42

(Euromonitor). Moreover, Ecuador has increased its participation in international travel and

tourism fairs such as FITUR in Madrid, ITB in Germany and WTM in England.

Other excellent initiatives include workshops held in Quito during the year 2012 where online travel

retailers such as Expedia.com and Booking.com promoted Ecuador’s capital as a travel and tourism

destination on their websites.

In general the tourism promotion situation of Ecuador at the local and international level is very

good. It is forecasted that the tourism promotional strategies of Ecuador remain the main reason for

the ongoing growth in inbound arrivals in Ecuador because the travel and tourism brand of this

country is being carefully positioned with its overall image being a sustainable tourism destination

with numerous advantages over its similar neighbours (Euromonitor International, 2013)

As this thesis wishes to investigate the actual situation of tourism promotion of Ecuador for the

Chinese market, the following section will provide some basic information about the relationship of

China and Ecuador and the most detailed analysis will be presented in the chapter 6 of this

dissertation which is about discussion and analysis of the findings of this research.

3.4 China and Ecuador

As stated by the actual President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, China is nearly 38 times bigger than

Ecuador and there are approximately 30,000 Chinese citizens living in Ecuador, many of them

descendants of emigrants who settled here more than a century ago. Most of them live in the coast

of Ecuador, mainly in the cities of Quevedo and Guayaquil.

Moreover, Chinese citizens contribute with their efforts and dreams to the development of Ecuador

and to the friendship between these two nations.Important economic development initiatives

reached by both the People’s Republic of China and Ecuador during the world financial crisis of

2008 have also enabled trade development, investments, and Chinese enterprises to contribute

effectively to the development of Ecuador (Embassy of Ecuador of the People's Republic of China,

2013). In addtion, to this the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, Ricardo Patino, has

acknowledged that China is a strategic partner for Ecuador and Ecuador has to learn a lot from its

experience in the path to development. He expresses that “Our countries share multiple

coincidences in international policy, economic policy, and social philosophy matters that have


43

allowed us to strengthen our bilateral relations; particularly, during our Government” (Embassy of

Ecuador in China). This is reflected in the fact that, currently, China is the second greatest foreign

investor in Ecuador, its main source of credit, and the main strategic partner in the largest energy

project in the history of Ecuador. As the Vicepresident of Ecuador, Jorge Glas, has informed, there

are currently 8 hydroelectric projects which are under construction in Ecuador and these have been

financed and built by China.

The Ecuadorian President of Ecuador has indicated that Chinese entrepreneurs are encouraged to

continue supporting these strategic economic projects that will enable Ecuador to have, in a few

years, the greenest energy matrix of the planet, to further participate in responsible mining projects,

to keep increasing bilateral trades, to invest in tourism development and to go on making the most

of the opportunities offered by a country with clear rules, high social cohesion and a vibrant process

of integrated economic development underway (Embassy of Ecuador of the People's Republic of

China, 2013).

Furthermore, as expressed by the Ambassador of Ecuador in China, Jose Borja, in 2013 Ecuador

and China celebrated their 33rd anniversary of the establishment of its diplomatic relations

beginning in 1980. In fact Ecuador has one Embassy in Beijing as well as Consulates and Trade

Offices in that city and in Shanghai and Guangzhou. All these offices have intensified efforts to

increase the presence of Ecuador in China through different activities such as festivals and events

and through civil society representatives and products, all which have allowed Ecuador to

significantly increase the People’s Republic of China’s knowledge about Ecuador, as well as close

contact between both nations (Embassy of Ecuador of the People's Republic of China, 2013). The

below table gives some examples of the activities made to promote Ecuador in China:

Table 11: Ecuadorian cultural activities in China

Theme/Topic Event

International

Relations /

Festivals

Friendship and Cultural Festival -Diplomat’s National Costumes and Oriental

Fashion Show.

Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries

(CPAFFC) hold the “Second Spanish Language Essay Writing Contest for

University Students” based on Yasuni-ITT research of Ecuador.

Embassy of Ecuador supports international cultural festivals with the

participation of their Ecuadorian students.

Promotion of culture, tourism and export portfolio of Ecuador during the “Dia

E” elebrations.


44

2nd “Ecuadorian Week: Culture, Tourism, Commerce and Investment”

celebration .

History Tribute to the bust of General Eloy Afaro in the Jin Tai Museum in Beijing’s

Chaoyan Park.

Intellectual

Work

Ecuadorian writers increase the “Ecuadorian Social Thought Library” during

the 33rd anniversary of the Ecuador and China relations.

On the Film Festival of Beijing the Ecuadorian project “MONTEVIDEO” was

granted two awards.

Moreover, it is important to mention that Ecuador has a China’s Approved Destination Status since

September 2009 (China Business Network, n.d.). This status represents a system based on bilateral

tourism agreements to approve foreign countries as destinations for Chinese citizens (World

Tourism Organization, 2010). Hence, Ecuador has the authorization to enter into the Chinese

outbound tourism market. Table 6 shows the list of some of China’s Approved Destination Status

countries where Ecuador appears marked in red.

Source: China Business Network, n.d.

Finally with regards to visas for Chinese citizens willing to visit Ecuador, these are very easy and

quick to obtain if all required documents are presented in the Consulates of Ecuador in China. In the

case of Chinese citizens holding diplomatic services or public affairs passports they can enter

Ecuador without a visa for 30 days but if they need to stay more time, they will have to request an

Table 12: China’s Approved Destination Status (as of July 2010)


45

extension to the Immigration Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility

(Embassy of Ecuador of the People's Republic of China, 2013)

In summary, this third chapter aimed to present a general overview of Ecuador as a tourism

destination that wishes to become a leader in sustainable tourism. For that purpose, the tourism

history of the country was presented, followed by an explanation of the organization of the Ministry

of Tourism of Ecuador. The attention was then driven to sustainable tourism in this South American

country and its promotion strategies by making special reference to the two main documents of

sustainable tourism planning and marketing of Ecuador, namely PLANDETUR 2020 and PIMTE

2014. Moreover, as the second objective of this thesis research is to investigate the actual situation

of tourism promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese market, the last section of this chapter explained

about the relationship between Ecuador and China in order to partially fulfil this objective which

should be fully accomplished in the following chapters of this dissertation.


46

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The aim of this chapter is to present the research methods that were used to conduct this thesis

research about the tourism promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese Market with a sustainable tourism

approach. Hence, the first section will present the research approach of this thesis. After this the

research design and data collection methods used for this investigation will be explained. Finally

the last section of this chapter will indicate the data analysis methods used.

4.1 Research Approach

This investigation has a mixed method approach because it involves collecting quantitative and

qualitative data which included close-ended questions and open-ended questions. As stated by

(Cresswell, 2014) mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry involving collecting both

quantitative and qualitative data, integrating the two forms of data, and using distinct designs that

may involve philosophical assumptions and theoretical frameworks. This approach was used in

order to have a more complete understanding of the views of Chinese Citizens about Ecuador and

their tourism preferences, as well as to know the current tourism promotion situation of Ecuador for

the Chinese market.

4.2 Research Design

A research design is a form of a carefully developed and controlled plan to carry the research

investigation (Churchill 1979). For this research, its author used a mixed-method design by

combining qualitative and quantitative research and data. Cresswell (2014) indicates that this type

of design tends to be open-ended without predetermined responses while quantitative data usually

includes closed-ended answers such as the ones found on questionnaires. As there were 3 online

questionnaires created for this research it is important to indicate that one of them had only open-

ended questions and this was the one directed to the tourism representatives of Ecuador in Beijing,

Shanghai, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Ecuador. The other two questionnaires do have a mixture

of open-ended and close-ended questions.

Furthermore, the researcher chose this design in order to explain facts and characteristics of the

Chinese citizens’ view of Ecuador and their tourism preferences. The research design model given


47

by Ritchie and Goldner (1987) was used and adapted to this investigation. The below figure

illustrates this design:

Figure 4: Research Design of this Thesis


48

4.3 Data Collection Methods

The data collection methods used for this investigation were online questionnaires. Three different

types of online questionnaires were sent by the author of this thesis through the free survey software

Qualtrics (please refer to appendices B, C and D). These questionnaires included: 1) questionnaire

for Chinese Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong about their view on Ecuador

and their tourism preferences; 2) questionnaire for representatives of Ecuador about the tourism

promotion of Ecuador in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong; and 3) questionnaire for

Tour Operators & Travel Agencies about Promotion Strategies to attract Chinese Travellers to visit

Ecuador. All of them were distributed online from 19th May 2014 until 16th June 2014. A detailed

explanation of each of them is provided as:

4.3.1.1 Questionnaire for Chinese Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong

about their view on Ecuador and their tourism preferences

In order to know the view on Ecuador and the tourism preferences of Chinese citizens living in

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Hong Kong online questionnaires were distributed via

Qualtrics.com. In total there were 191 online surveys that were started but only 61% were

completed, i.e.: 117 surveys. The majority of the participants (38.23%) needed 6 till 12 minutes to

complete the questionnaire; the longest time registered is 4 hours and shortest one minute. The day

with the highest response rate was the 19th of May with 41 (21.47%) just after publishing this

questionnaire. Other popular days were the 29th of May (17 responses = 8.9%) and 27th of May (15

responses = 7.85%). The question “How many days and how much money would you like to spend

if you go to Ecuador? (e.g. CNY 13,000 for 1 week)” was 83 times answered which is with 43.46%

the lowest response rate for a question. The most answered question (172 times = 90.05%) is the

first one in the questionnaire: ”Before today have you heard about Ecuador?”.

In addition, the author of this thesis piloted this questionnaire on a printed version by distributing it

in the International Cultural Event of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University which took place on

26th February 2014. After receiving the piloted questionnaires, she presented the results of these to

her thesis supervisor and this helped her to make some changes in terms of wording and layout

Additionally, a PhD student of the Geography and Resource Management department of the

Chinese University of Hong Kong gave the researcher of this thesis some suggestions and technical


49

advice about sending this online questionnaire through Qualtrics. With all this guidance the author

of this thesis had the approval of her supervisor to distribute these questionnaires online.

Different social media channels were used to get more responses from Chinese Citizens living in

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou or Hong Kong, namely: facebook, wechat, whatsap, QQ and twitter

(please refer to Appendix E). For that purpose the Chinese classmates and Chinese friends of the

author of this thesis helped her to send the link of this online questionnaire through the social media

channels mentioned before and also through e-mails.

Representatives of the commercial offices, consulates and embassies of Ecuador in Beijing,

Shanghai and Guangzhou also helped the author of this thesis to get a higher number of responses

to this questionnaire. In addition to this, the author of this dissertation contacted her Ecuadorian

friends who study at the Hong Kong University and the Polytechnic University who sent the link of

this questionnaire to his Chinese classmates or friends.

Moreover, e-mails requesting collaboration to get more responses to these online questionnaires

were sent on 28th May 2014 to universities which offer tourism programmes in the cities considered

for this thesis research, these included the Guangzhou University, the Shanghai Institute of

Tourism, the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and the Tourism Institute of Beijing

Union University. However no response was obtained from them.

The mass mail of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was also used to invite Chinese Citizens to

complete this online questionnaire. This request appeared twice on the CUHK mass mail, first on

June 6th and finally on June 13th 2014.

Since the author of this thesis wanted to get more respondents for this questionnaire, she went

personally to the 28th Hong Kong International Travel Expo on 14th June 2014 to invite more people

to complete this questionnaire. She printed the QR code generated by Qualtrics for this

questionnaire (please refer to appendix F) and approached to approximately 60 people who had the

right profile to answer her survey and internet in their mobile phones to either take a picture of the

code or scan it through the QR code scanner of Wechat or by another app that could scan this code.


50

4.3.1.2 Questionnaire for Tour Operators & Travel Agencies about Promotion Strategies to

attract Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador

From 19th May 2014 until 16th June 2014 online questionnaires for tour operators and travel

agencies who offer tourism packages for Chinese tourists to go to Ecuador were also sent through

Qualtrics.

In order to reach the right audience, the author of this dissertation contacted the Ministry of

Tourism of Ecuador and was informed by the person in charge of the list of tour operators and

travel agencies who operate in Ecuador, that there was one Chinese travel agency that could

complete this questionnaire but which was not offering its services anymore. Therefore, she

contacted the Department of International Markets in this institution and they suggested her to

contact the best Ecuadorian tour operator who offers tourism packages to visit Ecuador for Chinese

citizens. This tour operator was already known by the author of this thesis, since she met its

President on the World Travel Market that took place in London in November 2012. He was the

first tour operator representative to answer this online questionnaire and who put her in contact with

other 2 tour operators which also answered her questionnaire. Additionally, the researcher of this

thesis visited the Consulates of Ecuador in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou where all their

representatives recognized the work of this tour operator since it was the only Ecuadorian tour

operator which had offices with Chinese representatives in China and also in Ecuador.

The Commercial Office of Ecuador in Beijing also provided the author of this thesis with contact

details of a Chinese tour operator which is planning to offer tourism packages to Chinese citizens to

visit Ecuador. This tour operator was the only Chinese company that responded to her online

questionnaire.

After noticing that there were no more tour operators or agencies that could complete this

questionnaire, the researcher of this thesis closed this survey through Qualtrics. This system showed

that in total 7 questionnaires were started. 3 of them were left empty and 4 were completed by 3

Ecuadorian tour operators and one Chinese tour operator respectively. This is in fact a very low

number of respondents which in turn indicates the limited number of tour operators or travel

agencies that offer tour packages for Chinese tourists to go to Ecuador and which are based in

China, in Ecuador or in both countries. The length of time of completion for this questionnaire was

14 minutes (two responses), 18 (one response) and 22 (one response) minutes. The completion days


51

were 20th of May (two surveys), 23rd and 29th of May 2014 (each one survey), and all questions of

the survey were completed.

4.3.1.3 Questionnaire for representatives of Ecuador about the tourism promotion of Ecuador

in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong

This questionnaire as the other two, was reviewed and approved by the supervisor of this thesis

before sending it to its respondents. Moreover, the author of this thesis sent a formal letter to the

Embassy of Ecuador in Beijing requesting collaboration for completing this questionnaire and also

for her research. The answer was very positive as the Ambassador of Ecuador in Beijing provided

her with useful information and facilitated her the direct contact details of the tourism

representatives of Ecuador in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. With this contribution, she sent e-

mails to these representatives and they all agreed to help her. The answer for this enquiry was not

immediate and therefore telephone calls had to be made to get in touch with these authorities who

have very tight agendas but who were very kind to help her.

It is important to mention that the author of this research went personally to Beijing, Shanghai and

Guangzhou to meet the tourism representatives of Ecuador and discuss more about her dissertation

topic as well as to get the responses for this questionnaire since at the beginning it was supposed to

be made as an interview but due to the busy schedule of these authorities, they requested her to send

this questionnaire online. However, they did wish to talk to her and for an average time of one hour

they discussed with her about her research.

This questionnaire has 8 questions and it was completed by all the needed respondents. In total

there were 4 responses, i.e.: one tourism representative per city. At this point it is necessary to

mention that the Ecuadorian representative in Guangzhou also deals with tourism matters in Hong

Kong. Additionally this questionnaire was also sent to the relevant person in the Ministry of

Tourism and after a long time of waiting and pushing for an answer, this was received. The longest

time for completing it was two hours and they were responded mainly on the 26th and 27th of May

as well as 9th and 11th of June 2014. All questions from all participants were answered.


52

4.4 Research Sampling Technique

The research sampling technique used for this thesis was non-probability sampling through

snowball and convenience sampling.

According to Parker & Rea (2005) non-probability sampling occurs when the researcher does not

know the probability that a particular respondent will be selected as part of the sample and the

sample data cannot be used to generalize beyond the sample itself. This applied to all the three

designed questionnaires of this research.

In the particular case of the questionnaire directed to Chinese Citizens and the one for tour

operators, a snowball sampling was applied. This as defined by Morgan (2008) means that a small

pool of initial informants is used to be selected through social networks, other participants who

meet the eligibility criteria and could potentially contribute to a specific study.

With regards to the questionnaire sent to the tourism representatives of Ecuador, this used a

convenience sampling as it was made up of people who were easy for her to reach (Cox 1979,

p.268). Hence, she chose the closest units as respondents.

4.5 Data Analysis

In order to analyse the results of questionnaires the researcher use Microsoft Excel. With this

program, she created tables for every question which were later used to insert bar charts and pie

charts. Moreover, she used the program Qualtrics which is the world’s leading enterprise survey

technology provider (Qualtrics, 2014) to produce reports that summarised the responses for all

questionnaries and which helped her to analyse data quicker and easier. She also used informal

content analysis which is a method whereby text is scanned for recurring themes, concepts,

metaphors and other phrases. This method is often used in exploratory research in order to

determine further directions for more qualitative investigation. It is particularly useful when data are

lacking, as in this case (Page & Meyer 2000). Finally the text analysis software CATPACCII was

used in order to analyse the data of two of the questions in the survey directed to Chinese Citizens,

namely question 2 which refers to the knowledge of Chinese people about Ecuador and question 6

which ask if respondents would like to go to Ecuador and the reasons why.


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CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH FINDINGS

This chapter will present the results of the primary research conducted by the author of this thesis.

For this purpose it will be divided into 3 sections: 1) the findings of the questionnaires for Chinese

Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong about their view on Ecuador and their

tourism preferences; 2) the findings of the questionnaires for Tour Operators & Travel Agencies

about Promotion Strategies to attract Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador; and 3) the findings of the

questionnaires for representatives of Ecuador about the tourism promotion of Ecuador in Beijing,

Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

5.1 Research Findings of the Questionnaires for Chinese Citizens in

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong about their

View on Ecuador and their Tourism Preferences

The following figures, graphs and tables will present the findings of demographics for this

particular questionnaire:

PI1. Place of birth

67%

33%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

China Hong Kong

Figure 5: Place of birth


54

East China: Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Zhejiang

South China: Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan

North China: Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi

Southwest China: Tibet, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan

Central China: Henan, Hubei, Hunan

Northeast China: Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning

Figure 6: Place of birth in China

Figure 7: Birth region in China


55

PI2. Place of residence

PI3. Gender

Male42%

Female58%

11

21 21

76

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Guangzhou Beijing Shanghai Hong Kong

Figure 8: Place of residence

Figure 9: Gender


56

PI4. Age

PI5. Marital status

2

79

33

9 4 20

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

18 and below 19-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 over 55

2%5%

10% 11%

93%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Married with

children over 18

years old

Married without

children

Married with

children below 18

years old

In a relationship Single

Figure 10: Age

Figure 11: Marital status


57

PI6. Education level

PI7. Occupation

2% 3%5%

44%46%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Other Technical career Phd and above Postgraduate Undergraduate

1%2%

5% 5%

16%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

Senior citizens Other Service industry Sales and related Professional and

technical related

Figure 12: Education level

Figure 13: Occupation


58

PI8. Monthly income

1

9

14

22

28

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

CNY above 20000 CNY 10001-20000 CNY 5001-10000 CNY 2001-5000 CNY 2000

4

9 9

15

18

0

5

10

15

20

HKD 4001-6500 HKD 4000 or below HKD 6501-13000 HKD 13001-25500 HKD Above 25500

Figure 14: Monthly income Chinese Yuan

Figure 15: Monthly income Hong Kong dollars


59

PI9. Spoken languages

1 1 1 1 3 4 4 4 6

31

88 89

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Six Five Four One Three Two

Figure 16: Languages

Figure 17: Number of spoken languages per participant


60

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12

3 3 35

6

17

44

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Ko

rean

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Span

ish

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Ko

rean

, Ita

lian

, H

akka

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Ge

rman

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Jap

ane

se

Engl

ish

, Ge

rman

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, K

ore

an

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, G

erm

an

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, S

han

ghai

ne

ss

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, J

apan

ese

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Taiw

ane

se,

Ge

rman

Can

ton

ese

, Ch

ine

se, S

pan

ish

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Ind

on

esi

an

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Fre

nch

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se,

Jap

ane

se

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, K

ore

an

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, S

pan

ish

Engl

ish

, Can

ton

ese

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, S

pan

ish

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, F

ren

ch

Can

ton

ese

Engl

ish

Ch

ine

se

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se, C

anto

ne

se

Engl

ish

, Ch

ine

se

Figure 18: Detail of number of languages spoken by participants


61

From this question onwards the focus is on the view of Chinese People about Ecuador and their

tourism preferences:

Q1. Before today have you heard about Ecuador?

Q2. What do you know about Ecuador?

Table 13: Knowledge about Ecuador

Theme Description of Answer Frequency

Geographic location In South America, in the Equator, near Colombia, near

Argentina, African country. 42

Little or non-existing

knowledge

Nothing, not much, little, only the name of this country, just

some info from history classes. 26

Football Soccer team in this year’s world cup, Antonio Valencia, held

world cup once? 18

Sport Olympics, it seems that they do a certain kind of sport well 3

Nature and wildlife

Rich in natural resources, rainforest, beautiful seas, high

mountains, Andes mountains, beautiful nature, waterfalls,

exotic animals, plants, forest, roses.

21

Climate Tropical, maybe hot. 3

Language Spanish. 3

Ecuadorian

destinations Galapagos, Quito world heritage site, tourism. 14

Socio-Economic

situation Poverty, safety concern, not well developed 3

Ecuadorian people

characteristics

Friendly, enthusiastic, beautiful women, men wear too much

hair gel, Ecuadorians are very hospitable and nice. 6

Food Banana, food with strong taste. 8

Distance Far away from China 2

Others

Beauty competition, drugs, Snowden, the Equatorial

monument, Panama hut, it once put forward protecting

Assange, some Indians live there

7

Total 156

Yes90%

No10%

Figure 19: Heard about Ecuador


62

2 3 3 3 36 7 8

14

1821

26

42

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Figure 20: Knowledge about Ecuador

Figure 21: Dendogram of knowledge about

Ecuador


63

Q3. How did you know about Ecuador?

Table 14: Sources of Information about Ecuador

Theme Description of answers Frequency

Geography/School lessons Geography lessons, history classes. 13

Sports Football, Soccer, world cup, sports events. 6

Printed materials Books, textbooks. 4

Maps Maps. 4

TV TV news, documentary video. 3

Work Job, work. 3

Nothing specific From nothing specific, none of above, first time. 6

Other Through this questionnaire, world history, political

news, coffee shop, union of Massachusetts. 5

Figure 23: Other sources for knowing about Ecuador

3%

14%

20%

26% 27% 28%

32%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Promotion

on radio

Tourism

event

Promotion

on

newspaper,

magazine

Promotion

on internet

Word of

mouth

(friends,

family,

others)

Other,

please

specify

Promotion

on TV

13

6

6

5

4

4

3

3

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Geography/School lessons

Sports

Nothing specific

Other

Printed materials

Maps

TV

Work

Figure 22: Sources of information about Ecuador


64

Q4. From the previous question, which promotion tool do you prefer the most for choosing a

destination to visit?

Q5. Where is Ecuador located?

1% 4%

11%14%

18%

26% 26%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Promotion

on radio

Other,

please

specify

Tourism

event

Promotion

on

newspaper,

magazine

Promotion

on TV

Promotion

on Internet

Word of

mouth

(friends,

family,

others)

1% 1% 2% 9% 10%

77%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

North America Europe Asia Central

America

Africa South America

Figure 24: Promotion tool preferences

Figure 25: Location of Ecuador


65

Q6. Would you like to visit Ecuador? Why?

Figure 27: Perceptual map for “Yes” answers

63%

37%

Yes

No

Figure 26: Interest of visit Ecuador


66

Figure 28: Perceptual map for “No” answers


67

Q7. Which places would you like to visit in Ecuador?

Q8. With whom would you like to travel?

7 1015

35

54

64

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Colleagues

from work

Group Alone Family Partner Friends

3

43

51

63

71

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Other, please

specify

Highlands Jungle Coast Galapagos Islands

Figure 29: Destination preferences in Ecuador

Figure 30: Travel companion preference


68

Q9. How would you like to arrange your travel?

Q10. How many days and how much money would you like to spend if you go to Ecuador?

Figure 31: Preferred travel arrangement

Table 15: Tourism days and spending forecast


69

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2

69 10

41

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1 1 1 1 1 12 2 2

45

6 6

9

13

25

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Figure 32: Preferred length of stay

Figure 33: Preferred travel budget


70

Q11. What are your favourite activities for tourism?

Q12. Which are the most important factors for you to choose a destination to visit?

1 4

25

66

74

83 85 86

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

6

69

90 9399

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Other Value for money Local culture Natural scenery Security

Figure 34: Favourite tourism activities

Figure 35: Most important factors for choosing a tourism destination


71

65%

35%

Yes

No

Q13. Are you attracted by places that give importance to sustainable tourism, i.e.: that look after the

environment, society and economy of a tourism destination?

Q14. Is it a problem for you that there is no direct flight to go from China to Ecuador?

Q15. Do you mind travelling more than 20 hours to get to Ecuador?

85%

15%

Yes

No

65%

35%

Yes

No

Figure 36: Is sustainable tourism important?

Figure 37: Direct flight issue

Figure 38: Travel time to Ecuador


72

Q16. What do you think Ecuador should do to promote its tourism for Chinese travellers?

Figure 39: Suggestions to promote the tourism of Ecuador for Chinese travellers


73

5.2 Findings of the Questionnaires for Tour Operators & Travel Agencies about

Promotion Strategies to attract Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador

Q1. What is the general profile (gender, age, city of origin, education level, occupation, material

status, monthly income, travel budget) of the Chinese traveller that choose to travel to go to

Ecuador?

Table 16: Profile of Chinese travellers to Ecuador according to tour operators

Demographics Answer Frequency Answer Frequency

Gender Male 2 Male &

Female 1

Age 35-60 4

Education

level University Graduate 3

Marital status Married 2

Travel budget

USD 300 – USD 400 per

person per night (excl. Flight

tickets)

2

Other

Chinese citizens who travelled

many countries in Europe or

United States and want to visit

new destinations.

1 Retired

people 1

40%

30%

30%

0%

36 - 45

46 - 55

56 and over

Figure 40: Age


74

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

Culture

Chinese speaking tour guide …

New places

Chinese food

High standard services

Nature

Q2. What are the main expectations and needs of Chinese travellers when they choose Ecuador as a

destination? Are these expectations usually being met?

Q3. Have your customers complained about unfulfilled expectations in your travel operations to

Ecuador? If yes, what are these?

Figure 41: Main expectations and needs of Chinese

travellers

Figure 42: Customers complaints about unfulfilled

travel expectations in Ecuador


75

Q4. How about the performance of your company in bringing Chinese visitors to Ecuador compared

to last year?

Q5. What is your perception of Ecuador?

80%

20%Exotic country with a lot of nature and cultureto attract Chinese travellers

Without enough luxury accommodation forChinese visitors

Figure 43: Performance of company bringing Chinese visitors to Ecuador

Figure 44: Perception of Ecuador for tour operators


76

Best products on each

destination 67%

Galapagos flora and fauna

33%

Q6. Which places in Ecuador are the most attractive destinations for Chinese travellers?

Q7. What kind of tourism products of Ecuador are good-sellers at the present time? Why?

Figure 45: Most attractive destinations in Ecuador for Chinese

travellers

Figure 46: Current good-seller tourism products of Ecuador


77

Q8. What is the preferred destination of Chinese travellers in South America that represents the

main competition for Ecuador? Why?

Q9. What are the main promotion strategies you use to attract Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador?

Which are the most effective ones?

Table 17: Main promotion activities to attract Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador

Tour

Operator Main Promotion Activities

A

Select best travel agencies specialized in exotic destinations whose client

target prefer adventure, nature and culture and who have high incomes.

Visit tour operators and travel agencies twice a year and teach them how to

sell South America.

B Presentations about Ecuador in China to attract tourists of this country.

C Sending e-mail proposals with the tourism offer of Ecuador for Chinese

people, calling them and visiting them to get updates of their travel decisions.

D Varied offer of tourism options in Ecuador.

0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4

Brazil

Colombia

Argentina

Ecuador

Chile

Bolivia

Peru

Figure 47: Preferred destination of Chinese travellers in South America


78

1 1

2 2 2

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

Food Security Information about Ecuador

Language Distance

Yes75%

No25%

Q10. What are the main factors constraining Chinese visitors to travel to Ecuador?

Q11. Do you think that promoting Ecuador with a sustainable tourism approach is the best option

for its tourism promotion?

Figure 48: Main factors constraining Chinese visitors to travel to Ecuador

Figure 49: Is sustainable tourism the best option to promote

the tourism of Ecuador?


79

Table 18: Reasons for saying “Yes” or “No” to promote Ecuador with a sustainable tourism

approach

Yes No

Attention for sustainability is raising

worldwide.

Our present and future generations

should enjoy our diverse nature and

cultural heritage sites through tourism.

Effective way of promoting Ecuador and

its tourism offer.

Because Ecuador is still pure nature and

this makes it unique to attract tourists in

a sustainable way.

Not sure if sustainability will work

with Chinese market

Q12. Do you think that the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador is doing a good job promoting Ecuador

as a tourism destination for the Chinese Market?

Figure 50: Is the MINTUR doing a good job

promoting Ecuador for the Chinese Market?


80

Table 19: Reason for saying “No” or “Do not know”

Do not know No

I do not know.

It is difficult to promote an unknown

country.

The right clients must be searched

since the people that will go to Ecuador

will be people that like travelling and

have money to travel so far away.

In the last two years they have not

attended any trade show or any road

show.

Nothing has been published in the press,

nor in the media.

The Ministry of Tourism does not offer

any material in Chinese for tourism

promotion of Ecuador.

They do not have a public relations office

or agency for the Chinese market.

We were offered support for small

companies but it was not a follow up and

only the big companies could afford to

continue with promotion.

There is not any promotion or incentives

to make Chinese travelers come to

Ecuador.


81

Q13. What are your suggestions to the Ecuadorian tourism promotion organizations to attract more

Chinese travellers?

Table 20: Suggestions for the Ecuadorian tourism promotion organizations to attract more

Chinese travellers

SUGGESTIONS

Prepare a marketing plan for the Chinese Market that includes interesting activities such

as diving clubs, bird watching, golf clubs, etc.

Focus on the right target market that matches our tourism offer.

Promote Ecuador using all types of promotional tools, e.g.: social media, magazines,

web, etc.

Organize regularly press trips with specialized media.

Organize familiarization trips with specialized tour operators

Provide training to tour operators and travel agents in China to attract the right tourist

segments to Ecuador and ensure they make their travel arrangements through these

intermediaries and not only by themselves individually.

Tourism promotion of Ecuador in Chinese.

Direct flights from Asia to South America.

Work together with companies or travel agencies interested in the Chinese tourist market

for Ecuador.


82

5.3 Findings of the Questionnaires for Representatives of Ecuador about the Tourism

Promotion of Ecuador in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong

Q1. What is the actual situation of the Chinese travellers visiting Ecuador?

Table 21: Actual situation of Chinese travellers visiting Ecuador

RESPONSES

Ecuador is a market for Chinese tourists who have a high level of income.

Chinese travellers are welcome to visit Ecuador at any time of the year.

Chinese travellers only need to present very simple documentation to request a

tourist visa.

Tourist visas for Chinese citizens will be granted in 24 hours or less once the

visa documents are submitted and analysed.

After the signage of a flight service agreement between Ecuador and China,

the tourism cooperation between these two countries has been strengthened in

order to connect these two places better.

Based on that, an organized agenda was created to achieve important

objectives such as the cooperative tourism promotion between Ecuador and

China and the presence of an Ecuadorian airline that offers flight connections

with Asia.

Chinese travellers to Ecuador are usually business people who have already

travelled around the world and are keen to visit South America where Ecuador

represents for them a top destination to experience real nature.

In 2012 approximately 12.000 Chinese citizens visited Ecuador.

In 2013 there were 14.735 Chinese visitors who travelled to Ecuador.

For the following years it is forecasted that around 90 million Chinese citizens

will travel abroad for tourism purposes, hence the Minister of Tourism of

Ecuador Vinicio Alvarado believes that this is a great opportunity to attract at

least a significant percentage of Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador.

China has currently its own Chinese community living in Ecuador and each

year it increases. Therefore in Quevedo, one of the Ecuadorian cities where

most of the Chinese citizens live, a new China town is being built.


83

< 18 years old16%

26-35 years old17%

36-44 years old50%

45-55 years old17%

Q2. What is the general profile (gender, age, city of origin, occupation, travel budget, preferred

activities or tourism products/destinations in Ecuador) of the Chinese traveller that chooses to travel

to go to Ecuador?

Figure 51: Chinese visitors age

Figure 52: Occupation of Chinese travellers to Ecuador


84

Since there was information mentioned only once by each of the tour operators, this has been

summarized in the following table:

Table 22: Other characteristics of Chinese travellers that go to Ecuador

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

Travel Budget and Length of Stay: The itineraries they usually buy is for 8.000 USD for

5 to 8 days and this is all-inclusive except for the airway tickets from China to Ecuador.

Family Structure: Chinese citizens who travel in family with kids.

Tourism Information Search about Ecuador: Through internet and travel agencies.

Figure 53: City of origin of Chinese travellers to Ecuador

Figure 54: Preferred tourism activities of Chinese travellers in

Ecuador


85

Q3. Based on the fact that Chinese travellers are the fastest growing tourism source market

worldwide and also the top tourism spenders in the world, would you consider putting them as a

priority market to attract them to visit Ecuador?

Table 23: Justification for suggesting China as a priority tourism market for Ecuador

JUSTIFICATION

Because China is estimated to keep increasing its number of travelers in the

coming years, e.g. in 2014 it is estimated that 100 million Chinese citizens

will travel abroad and this is a good opportunity for Ecuador to attract them.

Based on that, the Consulate of Ecuador and Consulate of Peru in

Guangzhou are promoting both destinations jointly since most Chinese

travelers prefer to visit these two countries together.

Although Chinese travelers prefer shopping tourism and they are still not

completely open to other kinds of tourism such as ecotourism, adventure

tourism, etc. it is believed that the next generation of Chinese travelers will

have a better understanding of a conscious sustainable tourism and therefore

they should be part of the future priority tourism markets of Ecuador.

Figure 55: Should China be a priority

tourism market for Ecuador?


86

Q4. How does the process of promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese market work?

Table 24: Tourism promotion process of Ecuador for the Chinese market

Tourism

Representation Promotion Process

Beijing

Tourism videos about Ecuador are presented in all promotional

activities that the Ecuadorian trade office in Beijing organize.

Information about tourism in Ecuador is provided to travels agents

and companies in China.

The Ecuadorian trade office of Ecuador in Beijing has a web page

where it always offers information about Ecuador.

Participation in the main tourism fairs in order to promote Ecuador as

a tourism destination for the Chinese market.

Shanghai

The Consulate General of Shanghai has focused on facilitating the path

for Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador through:

Negotiations with China Eastern and other local airlines have started

to organize direct flights between Shanghai and Guayaquil.

Several seminars with local travel agencies in Shanghai have been

hold in order to promote Ecuador as a suitable destination for

itineraries in South America.

Use of the online account of the Consulate of Ecuador in Shanghai

social media platforms such as Weibo and Youku in order to promote

the tourism offer of Ecuador for Chinese visitors.

Guangzhou

and

Hong Kong

Tourism promotion of Ecuador for almost 5 years has been done,

since the opening of the Consulate of Ecuador in Guangzhou in 2009.

The most successful events have been the personalized ones which

include: tourism promotion events with the Chinese travel agencies

which are already sending groups of Chinese travelers to Latin

America or the ones which have the intention to do so.

Ecuador

Representatives of the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador together with

other main authorities of the country such as the Vice-president of

Ecuador and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have recently travelled to

China to hold meetings with Chinese authorities and the Consular

Offices of Ecuador in China as well as the Embassy of Ecuador in

Beijing in order to facilitate the travels of Chinese tourists to Ecuador

and promote the tourism of Ecuador for the Chinese market.


87

Q5. What are the main promotion strategies you use to attract Chinese travellers to visit Ecuador?

Table 25: Tourism promotion strategies of Ecuador for the Chinese market

Tourism

Representation Main Promotion Strategies

Beijing Use of media, social networking and website to promote the country.

Shanghai

Constant update of websites for the tourism promotion of Ecuador.

Post different themes of interest to potential Chinese travellers to

Ecuador.

Give support to the representatives of Ecuadorian travel agencies

based in China.

Guangzhou

and

Hong Kong

Approach travel agencies which are already sending groups of

Chinese travellers to Latin America or the ones which have the

intention to do so.

Ecuador

The tourism promotion strategies of Ecuador for the Chinese Market

are done according to the Integral Tourism Marketing Plan of Ecuador

2014 (PIMTE 2014). In this plan the main tourism products of

Ecuador are indicated.

This year the Ministry of Tourism develops various strategies for the

diffusion, promotion and marketing of the tourism of Ecuador at the

local and international level, among these is the campaign “All You

Need is Ecuador” which is promoted in 14 countries worldwide

through 8 International TV channels, social networks, printed media

and public relations.

Billboards and screens have also been used to promote the tourism

offer of Ecuador in the United States, Canada, Germany, England,

Italy, France and Holland.

This campaign is promoted in Spanish, English, Portuguese, German

and French. The goal through all these efforts is that Ecuador receives

1,6 million tourist from around the world.

The tourism offer of Ecuador has also been promoted in websites

specialized in tourism and in airline magazines such as Lufthansa,

KLM, Iberia, Air France, LAN, Avianca and Aeromexico.


88

Q6. Are there any agreements on future plans to increase the awareness of Ecuador in the Chinese

market and attract more visitors?

Table 26: Agreements and future plans to attract more Chinese travellers to Ecuador

Memorandum of Understanding: MOU CHN143

Memorandum of Understanding between the Tourism Administration of Guangdong

Province and the Consulate of Ecuador.

Since then several tourism events to promote Ecuador as a tourism destination for the

Chinese market in Guangdong Province have been organized and will continue.

The Vice Director of Tourism Administration of Guangdong Province visited

Ecuador along with an official delegation and some tourism operators of Guangdong

Province in order to meet the Ministry of Tourism to cooperate in future promotion

events.

Strategic meetings between the highest tourism authorities of Ecuador and

representatives of the tourism and airline industry of China have been hold to

improve the tourism options for Chinese travellers to Ecuador.

The negotiation process of a direct flight route that connects Ecuador and China has

started.

The Ministry of Tourism agreed to give its institutional support for this negotiation,

i.e.: to establish connectivity teams, tourism markets and meetings with tour

operators.

The Minister of Tourism Vinicio Alvarado stated that the Ministry of Tourism will

provide appropriate training to increase the number of bilingual Ecuadorian tour

guides who could assist Chinese tourists in their own language.

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Social networks

Support Ecuadorian Travel Agencies in China

Approach TA for Chinese going to Latin America

Use of PIMTE 2014

International campaigns

TV promotion

Printed media

Public Relations

Billboards and Screens

Tourism promotion in different languages

Websites

Figure 56: Tourism promotion strategies of Ecuador for the Chinese market


89

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5

Not enough Chinese tour guides

No direct flights

High travel costs

Long distance

Number of Chinese holidays

Security

Lack of knowledge

Hotel infrastructure

Q7. What are the main issues you have found to attract Chinese visitors to go to Ecuador?

Q8. What are your suggestions to attract more Chinese visitors to Ecuador?

Table 27: Suggestions to attract more Chinese Visitors to Ecuador

SUGGESTIONS

The Ecuadorian government should promote our country more in China since it is an

unknown market for Chinese tourists.

The work of the commercial offices and the Embassy is very important to promote the

tourism of Ecuador.

Chinese media should be invited to promote the tourism of Ecuador through reports and

documentaries.

Keep introducing the notion of Ecuador through less obvious but equally effective

channels such as cultural exhibitions, presentations about Ecuador on high schools,

donation of Ecuadorian books in Chinese, projections of Ecuadorian cinema, etc.

The Ministry of Tourism in Ecuador should invest in other channels such as Youku or

Ctrip, even on popular TV series that will promote Ecuador as a unique tourism heaven

were they can spend their vacations, honeymoon or just discover new flora and fauna.

Launch a big promotional tourism campaign for the Chinese market, the only reason we

do not have more Chinese visitors is because they do not know about our country.

Chinese travellers have money and want to travel abroad to discover new and exotic

destinations, therefore Ecuador should be promoted in China at large scale.

Figure 57: Issues to attract Chinese Travellers to visit Ecuador


90

CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

The results obtained from the primary research conducted by the researcher of this dissertation

which were presented in chapter 5 contribute to understand better the research problem of this thesis

which in turn helps to achieve her research aim and objectives. Three questionnaires were created

for this purpose, these were: 1) questionnaire for Chinese Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou

and Hong Kong about their view on Ecuador and their tourism preferences; 2) questionnaire for

Tour Operators & Travel Agencies about Promotion Strategies to attract Chinese Travellers to visit

Ecuador; and 3) questionnaire for representatives of Ecuador about the tourism promotion of

Ecuador in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. In order to discuss these findings this

chapter will analyse them according to their main themes.

Profile of the Chinese Tourist

In the 3 questionnaires distributed respectively to Chinese Citizens, tour operators and travel agents

for the Chinese market, and tourism representatives of the promotion of Ecuador in Beijing,

Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, it was asked about demographics. The Chinese citizens that

completed this research questionnaire informed about their place of birth, age, gender, place of

residence, marital status, education level, occupation, monthly income, and spoken languages. In

the case of tour operators, travel agents and tourism representatives they were asked to inform about

the profile of the Chinese visitor to Ecuador. Putting together all this information, it is interesting to

note that tour operators, travel agents and tourism representatives coincide that the main

characteristics of Chinese travellers are that the main group of visitors that go to Ecuador are aged

between 35 to 45 and that they have secure jobs, high job positions and high income. However, this

is not consistent with the market analysis report that the Ministry of Tourism elaborated in 2013 and

which states that most of the Chinese international travellers are aged between 25 and 34 years old.

In the case of the questionnaire completed by Chinese citizens it is reflected that most of them were

aged between 19 to 25 but the reason for that is that it was mainly distributed to university students

and their friends, nonetheless the second highest number of respondents were aged between 26 to

35.

With regards to their travel budgets most of the Chinese citizens who responded said that they wold

like to spend 10,000 CYN in 7 days which is a moderate spending in comparison with what the tour

operators and travel agents inform Chinese visitors spend actually, which is about 2,500 CYN in


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one day. Moreover, tour operators, travel agents and tourism representatives of Ecuador

acknowledged that due to the high income of most of the Chinese travellers to Ecuador, the right

tourist segment for the country is the luxury one and therefore Ecuador must improve its

infrastructure and promote more its tourism offer for this market.

Chinese citizens living in big cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing represent high

potential tourism markets for Ecuador. The findings show that most of the respondents came from

these big cities, especially from East China. As stated by World Tourism Organization (2012) the

provinces of East China have the strongest economy in China and are the major sources of

outbound tourism, they are well-informed and they stress value for money.

In fact, most of the Chinese respondents to these questionnaires were attracted by the Galapagos

Islands which is the most luxurious tourism destination in Ecuador. Euromonitor International

(2013) informed that the Galapagos Islands won the prestigious prize of World’s Best Green

Destination at the 2012 World Travel Awards and also South America’s Best Destination for the

ninth consecutive year and this is great for the positive image of Ecuador at the international level

and should be promoted more in China to attract more visitors.

Moreover, the author of this research was particularly attracted by the statement of many tourism

representatives and tour operators who expressed that there is a huge potential for Ecuador to focus

its sustainable tourism promotional efforts on the luxury tourist segment of China. With that on

mind she researched about this and encouraging information was found in the Hurun report of the

Chinese Luxury Consumer Survey of 2013. This report does not mention Ecuador in any of its

sections but it explains about the tourism preferences and consumption patterns of the wealthiest

Chinese citizens. Among the main facts of this report it is mentioned that the wealthiest Chinese

people live mainly in Beijing, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Moreover, it is

indicated that tourism is their favourite leisure activity and that when they travel abroad their length

of stay is 5 nights. There is not a particular time when they do most of their travelling and they

prefer to book their travels through tour operators or their business assistants. If they travel in

groups the number of travellers will be between 3 to 10 and most of them will spend around 31,000

CYN per trip, they prefer to travel abroad through Singapore Airlines and their preferred

destinations are France, the United States, Japan, Italy and Switzerland (ILTM Asia, 2013). Their

most wanted sports activity is swimming and they really enjoy photography, horse riding and yoga.

Additionally, internet and word of mouth are their favourite source of information and they mostly

use their mobile phones for checking their e-mails, visit websites and chatting. Furthermore, their

preferred hotel brands are Shangri La, Hilton, Sheraton, Park Hyatt and Four Seasons. They like to


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give gifts to their friends and relatives and currently travel packages are becoming one of their most

popular gifts. Nonetheless, one challenge has been identified by tour operators regarding this

tourist segment as they tend to change frequently their travel plans. In general, all these data can

show that there is a strong luxury tourist segment in China and despite the fact that these type of

tourists might consider first to go to European destinations, USA or other world-class cities,

Ecuador should study this market and find out if they are the right tourist segment for the country.

In terms of economic benefits, they will increase the tourism profits of Ecuador impressively,

however these should not be the only priorities for Ecuador especially if the country wants to be a

leading sustainable tourism destination. Hence the profile of this tourist segment should be analysed

in terms of its social and environmental contribution to Ecuador. Responsible tourists with high

spending potential could be the best tourist segment for Ecuador according to the researcher of this

thesis.

Moreover, many of Chinese citizens who responded these questionnaires live in Hong Kong and

speak two languages which were mainly Chinese Mandarin and English. This is a sign for Ecuador

to keep promoting its tourism in these languages for the Chinese market and also to include

Cantonese because this is the third most spoken language that was used among respondents and in

Hong Kong most of its inhabitants speak Chinese Mandarin and Cantonese. Ecuador already has

one website called Ecuador.travel where all travel and tourism information is presented in Chinese

Mandarin, English, German and French.

Another favourite destination mentioned among the respondents was Quito which as informed by

Euromonitor (2013) was the top city in Ecuador in terms of arrivals in 2012. Quito is a world-class

city due to their highly developed infrastructure, which includes a modern international airport

(Euromonitor International, 2013) this should be promoted among Chinese citizens since they think

one of the main constraints to go to Ecuador is that there is no direct flight.

Moreover, most of the respondents informed about their preference of natural tourism attractions as

well as high standard of services and even Chinese food when they go abroad. Cultural tourism,

nature-based tourism and gastronomic tourism are the main types of tourism that they are attracted

to and this represents a great opportunity for Ecuador since these are part of its key tourism

products. However Ecuador should pay attention on the preferences of Chinese travellers and

although there are some Chinese restaurants in Ecuador, if they want to attract this tourist segment

more Chinese restaurants should be added or more promotion of the existing ones should be done.


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Knowledge of Chinese Citizens about Ecuador

The majority of respondents knew that Ecuador is located in South America, however the second

highest number of respondents say that they did not know nothing about Ecuador or only a little bit.

They related Ecuador with football and even suggested that Ecuador should work together with

sports celebrities such as Antonio Valencia in order to promote the tourism of this country. Nature

and wildlife was also closely related to Ecuador. All these answers are alerts for Ecuador as they

show that the level of awareness and knowledge of the people about this country is very little. It

cannot be possible that with the excellent commercial relationships and the big community of

Chinese citizens in Ecuador as well as the tourism activities and efforts that the representatives of

Ecuador in China do, this South American country and its tourism offer is still unknown for most of

the Chinese citizens. The Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador together with all tourism stakeholders

interested in the Chinese Tourism Market for Ecuador should take the relevant actions to create a

strategic tourism promotion plan of Ecuador for the Chinese outbound travel to this country and

which has a clear vision of sustainable tourism. Hence documents such as PLANDETUR 2020 and

PIMTE 2014 should be used for this purpose.

Interest of Chinese Citizens in visiting Ecuador

A high percentage of respondents namely 63% informed that they would like to visit Ecuador,

because of its culture, because they have never been there and also because they are curious about

it. The perceptual map shown in the chapter 5 of this research clearly illustrates that there are many

reasons why Chinese people would like to go to Ecuador but the ones that have been most

mentioned appeared closer to each other and as a cluster. These are very good news for Ecuador

because although people do not know much about it, they do want to go there, hence Ecuador

cannot lose this chance and it must strengthen its promotional efforts.

However, it is also important to indicate that 37% of the respondents informed they would not like

to go to Ecuador mainly because it is far, expensive and they do not know much about it. This can

be justified by the fact that there are no direct flights to Ecuador and in order to get there it might

take more than a day to do so. Nonetheless, it is necessary to mention what the representative of the

Ministry of Tourism in Ecuador answered in her questionnaire and which refers to the fact that

strategic meetings have been held between representatives of the tourism and airline industry of

China and Ecuador in order to improve the connectivity between these two places and the

negotiation process of a direct flight route that connects Ecuador and China has started. Another


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option is to use promotional videos and social network to inform about the fact that Ecuador has 4

regions and within its territory there are 11 airports and only within 30 minutes people can

experience a different world in the same place. The below figure illustrates the number of airports

Ecuador has:

Figure 58: Ecuadorian Airports and Runways

Source: ATLAS (2012, p.239)

With regards to Ecuador being “expensive” Euromonitor (2013) indicates that Ecuador is

comparatively affordable in comparisson with other nearby destinations and they even forecast that

inbound arrivals from China are expected to record solid growth over the forecast period as

increasing numbers of Chinese people will be able to afford to travel to far-flung destinations such

as Ecuador.

With regards to the preferred mode of travel most respondents inform they prefer to do it through

tour operators or travel agencies and this should worry the tourism authorities of Ecuador because

there are not enough tour operators or travel agencies in Ecuador that offer tourism packages for the

Chinese market. Only 1 Ecuadorian tour operator is well-known in China and this is SURTREK, its

website, promotion, staff, all have taken very seriously this market and they even have an office in

China to respond to the enquiries of Chinese tourists and arrange their travel to Ecuador. The

example of SURTREK should be followed by other tour operators and more support should be


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given to those entrepreneurs interested in attracting Chinese tourists to Ecuador and the existing

travel agencies and tour operators that are offering tourism packages to Chinese tourists.

Tourism Promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese Market

The tour operators and travel agencies that responded to this research questionnaire have expressed

that the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador is not doing a good job in promoting the tourism offer of

Ecuador for the Chinese Market because they have not attended any trade show or road show in

China in the last two years, nothing has been published in the media, they do not offer promotional

material in Chinese to promote Ecuador, they do not have a PR office or agency for the Chinese

market, they do not give enough and continuous support to tour operators interested in the Chinese

market and they have not made an effort to create incentives to attract Chinese visitors to Ecuador.

These statements are very serious and it seems that the private tourism sector of Ecuador and the

public one are not working well together to promote Ecuador in China. Moreover, the researcher of

this thesis noticed that the promotional material of Ecuador provided in China is not created by the

Ministry of Tourism in Ecuador but by the official representations of Ecuador in China mainly

because of budget reasons. Hence it is pivotal to have more effective communication and

cooperation among tourism stakeholders of Ecuador in China but also in Ecuador in order to find

more cost-efficient ways of elaborating the tourism promotional material of Ecuador and help each

other.

Moreover, it is necessary to point out that Ecuador is doing powerful tourism promotional

campaigns around the world and in its priority markets such as the United States, Germany,

Colombia, France, among others. For instance Euromonitor International (2013) reported that high

quality promotional videos advertising Ecuador as an attractive travel and tourism destination are

being broadcast on some of the world‟s major television channels and networks, including Caracol

Colombia, RCN, Frecuencia Latina, Warner Channel, Sony TV, Fox, Discovery Channel, National

Geographic, BBC, CNN International and Telesur. Moreover, they inform that the public

investment in this campaign has so far exceeded US$20 million and one of the more memorable of

these campaigns towards the end of the review period featured the slogan “Ecuador: ama la vida”

(Ecuador: love life). They further explain that these campaigns are being heavily supported by

Ecuador’s strong presence at international travel and tourism trade fairs in countries such as

Germany and even in China, which facilitate personal contact between representatives of Ecuador’s

key travel and tourism stakeholders and their counterparts from various other countries. It grabs the


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attention that China was mentioned in the statement of Euromonitor because apparently the

Ministry of Tourism has not participated in tourism trade fairs in China lately, hence in order to

create awareness of the efforts that this institution makes to promote Ecuador in China, more

channels of information should be used to reach wider audiences and keep them updated of their

work.

Furthermore, the tourism authorities of Ecuador in China firmly believe that China should become a

priority tourism market of Ecuador because it is estimated to keep increasing its number of

travellers in the coming years, the Consulate of Ecuador and the Consulate of Peru in Guangzhou

have already started to work together to promote the tourism of these two countries jointly, and

because it is assumed that the next generation of Chinese travellers will be very attracted by

sustainable tourism and Ecuador has it. They also stated that many tourism promotion strategies are

being used, among these: tourism promotion of Ecuador in their official websites, use of social

media such as weibo or youku and joint promotional events with travel agencies in Guangzhou.

Websites are their main source of promoting Ecuador and they hold seminars with local travel

agencies in Shanghai to promote the country. However, when asked about the specific tourism

promotion process of Ecuador, none of them explain it as specific steps, they only list random

activities without a logical sequence, therefore it has been noticed that there is no clear set process

for promoting the tourism Ecuador, it seems to be an activity without appropriate planning nor

coordination with the main institution of tourism of Ecuador, i.e.: the Ministry of Tourism of

Ecuador. The reasons for that are unknown but they could include lack of support among these

institutions, other administrative priorities or maybe instability caused by management transitions

which are sometimes common in Ecuador when new authorities are hired.

Finally, particular attention should be given to the Chinese holidays as this could contribute to

create more accurate tourism offers and promotion of Ecuador according to these dates. Appendix

G illustrates all Chinese holidays.

Sustainable Tourism

All respondents to the 3 questionnaires of this research were asked a question about sustainable

tourism. In the case of Chinese citizens, most of them responded that they are attracted by places

which give importance to sustainable tourism. This is supported by the growing trend that tourism

will strengthen its focus on ethics and will become more demanding in areas such as sustainability


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and responsibility as indicated by the World Tourism Organization (2012). In the case of tour

operators and travel agents surveyed, 75% of them agreed that sustainable tourism is the best

approach to promote the tourism of Ecuador because attention for sustainability is growing

worldwide, present and future generations should enjoy our diverse nature and cultural heritage

sites through tourism and because Ecuador is still pure and this makes it unique to attract tourists in

a sustainable way. Only one tour operator was not sure if sustainable tourism is the best tourism

promotion approach and did not explain why.

Finally with regards to the view of tourism representatives of Ecuador about sustainable tourism,

they all expressed in an oral way that they believe the best approach to promote Ecuador is through

sustainable tourism and all of them suggested to make use of all possible tourism promotional tools

and strategies to attract Chinese travellers to Ecuador, including social media, Chinese media such

as Youku or Ctrip, launch of big tourism promotional campaigns for China. They also recognised

the importance of the work of commercial offices and the Embassy of Ecuador in China to jointly

promote the tourism of Ecuador in a sustainable way.

Tour operators suggested that Ecuador should prepare a marketing plan for the Chinese market that

includes interesting activities such as diving clubs, bird watching and golf clubs. This shows again

their interest in the Chinese luxury tourism segment as these are very expensive tourism activities in

Ecuador. Moreover, they recommended to organise regular familiarization trips, provide training to

tour operators and travel agents in China to attract the right tourist segments to Ecuador, direct

flights from China to South America, joint work with travel agencies or companies interested in the

Chinese tourist market for Ecuador, focus on the right Chinese target market that matches

Ecuador’s tourism offer and its vision of becoming a leading sustainable tourism destination.

Similarly, the Chinese citizens surveyed in this research conveyed that in order to promote Ecuador

for Chinese travellers, the country should have direct flights, discounts in air travel and

accommodation, the right tourism package for the right Chinese tourism segment, but mainly they

recommend more tourism promotion of Ecuador in Chinese languages and information about the

unique tourism offer of Ecuador. All these should be promoted mainly on internet since these are

their preferred sources for searching information. To conclude and as mentioned in the Hong Kong

Tourism Annual Overview 2014, Chinese citizens prefer to use online sources such as social media

pages which include: Weibo, QQ, wechat, youku, facebook, twitter. These last two can also be

accessed in Hong Kong but not in Mainland China, therefore Ecuador should use all these sources

to promote its tourism offer and everything should be in Chinese Mandarin or Cantonese

accordingly.


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Competition

Through one of the questions in the survey for tour operators “which asked what are the preferred

destinations of Chinese travellers in South America?”, it was concluded that Peru, Bolivia and Chile

are the main competitors of Ecuador. Many Chinese travellers go to Lima, Cusco, Macchupicchu

located in Peru, also they like to go to La Paz and Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia and to Santiago,

Atacama Desert and Eastern Island in Chile. These are big players in the tourism arena of South

America and therefore the idea of promoting Ecuador’s tourism with other South American

countries as multi-destination packages for Chinese travellers must be further developed, promoted

and offered for them.

To conclude, this chapter has presented a discussion and analysis of the findings of the primary

research of this thesis. Based on the most significant themes of findings, the analysis was conducted

and 6 criteria were identified, these included: the profile of the Chinese tourist, the knowledge of

Chinese citizens about Ecuador, their interest visiting Ecuador, tourism Promotion of Ecuador for

the Chinese Market, sustainable tourism and competition. Hence throughout this chapter the two

objectives of this research have been fulfilled. The following chapter will provide the final

conclusions to this thesis.


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CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS

This last chapter will present the conclusions of this research. In order to do so, first a summary of

findings will be provided. Then, a section of recommendations on the findings of this research will

be presented. This will be followed by the limitations of this research and the last part of this

chapter will provide suggestions for future research.

7.1 Summary of Findings

The main findings of this research relate to the fact that for most of the respondents of the three

questionnaires distributed, sustainable tourism is recognised to be the best approach to promote the

tourism of Ecuador for the Chinese market in order to achieve its vision of becoming a leading

sustainable tourism destination. The main documents of the sustainable tourism planning and

marketing of Ecuador, namely the PLANDETUR 2020 and the PIMTE 2014, present all the range

of tourism strategies that are used to promote the tourism of Ecuador and many of them focus in

sustainable tourism. However not all of them place specific emphasis on this goal.

The profile of the regular Chinese traveller to Ecuador was found to be a person between 35 to 45

years old with high job positions and high income. Therefore, the most suggested tourist segment

for Ecuador was the luxury segment.

It was found out that China is seen as an opportunity market by the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador

but tourism authorities in China suggest it should become a priority market for Ecuador based on its

high spending potential and the fact that they are Asia’s largest outbound tourism market.

Furthermore, among the questionnaire respondents, most of them said to be attracted by natural and

cultural tourism and they come from first tier cities of China such as Beijing, Shanghai and

Guangzhou, these are mainly provinces of East China with the strongest economy in the country

and represent major sources of outbound tourism in the world.

Moreover, language was to be found a key factor for the promotion of the tourism of Ecuador as

most respondents suggested the usage of Chinese languages for that purpose. Additionally among

respondents most were bilingual and Chinese Mandarin and English were the most spoken

languages, followed by Cantonese.


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Galapagos Islands was the most preferred tourism destination of Ecuador among the respondents of

this research. This is the most luxurious tourism destination of Ecuador, therefore this is another

sign that the right tourism segment for Ecuador might be the luxury tourist segment of China.

Most of the Chinese respondents of this research knew about Ecuador and its location mainly.

However, there were still many people who had little or any knowledge about Ecuador which

suggests that tourism promotion should focus on increasing the level of awareness of Chinese

citizens about the country and its tourism offer.

Internet and social media were found to be the main sources of information that respondents prefer.

Moreover, most of the surveyed Chinese citizens mentioned they would like to go to Ecuador as

they are curious about it and are very attracted by its culture. Nonetheless, many respondents

mentioned that there were factors constraining them to visit Ecuador and this included lack of direct

flights and long distance. The good news about this is that according to the Ministry of Tourism of

Ecuador, the negotiation process to establish direct flights between China and Ecuador has already

started.

With regards to the tour operators of Ecuador for the Chinese market, one tour operator was always

mentioned and acknowledged for its excellent work in China, i.e.: SURTREK. However, it was

noticed that there is a very limited number of Ecuadorian tour operators offering tourism options for

the Chinese tourism market.

Another key finding was the opinion of many respondents about the reduced promotional efforts

done by the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador for the Chinese market and low support given to tour

operators or travel agents interested in this market. It was perceived that the commercial offices of

Ecuador in China, consulates and the Embassy of Ecuador in China work together to promote

Ecuador in China but their promotional tools are applied with not much support from the Ministry

of Tourism in Ecuador.

Finally, competition was identified to be a key factor to consider for the tourism promotion of

Ecuador in China as there are other South American tourism destinations that are more visited by

Chinese travellers such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile, therefore the concept of jointly working for

promoting multi-destination travels was found to be an excellent strategy to be more fostered

between Ecuador and its neighbouring countries.


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7.2 Suggestions and Recommendations

The author of this research suggests that in order to promote the tourism of Ecuador for the Chinese

market with a sustainable tourism approach, first the concept of sustainable tourism must be

widespread in Ecuador and China together. For that purpose training about sustainable tourism for

all interested tourism stakeholders in Ecuador should be given. Additionally, the documents of

PLANDETUR2020 and PIMTE 2014 should be explained clearly among them as well as the main

guidelines of sustainable tourism suggested by UNEP & WTO (2005). The same activity should be

done in China for the relevant people who are interested in the tourism offer of Ecuador.

Moreover, the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador should conduct a comprehensive study of the

Chinese tourism market and this institution should work jointly and in a coordinated way with all

the tourism stakeholders of Ecuador who are interested in promoting the tourism offer of Ecuador

for China. Hence the Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of

Culture and the official representations of the tourism of Ecuador in China together with tour

operators, travel consultants and Ecuadorian people living in China could join forces to united

promote the tourism of Ecuador as a sustainable tourism destination for Chinese citizens who are

responsible travellers. It could be beneficial that the Ministry of Tourism has a tourism expert

representing this institution in each of the commercial offices, Consulates of Ecuador and the

Embassy of Ecuador located in China. Also a department that coordinates the Chinese market in the

Ministry of Tourism of Ecuador must exist in order to develop this market as a priority one. People

with knowledge about sustainable tourism and China should be part of this department in which

also Chinese speaking staff should be part of.

Furthermore, strong promotional campaigns must be made using all available promotional tools

especially social media and websites visited by Chinese travellers. It could be a big opportunity for

Ecuador to promote its tourism offer in the luxury magazines of the Hurun report or on its website

after it has been studied whether the Chinese luxury traveller is the right market to target for

Ecuador. Moreover, once Ecuador and China finish establishing direct flight routes between these

two destinations, this must be promoted massively to the right audience of Chinese travellers.

Constant market research must be made to keep up to date about the trends of Chinese outbound

travellers and adapt promotion strategies accordingly. Finally major outbound tourism fairs or

events in China and Hong Kong should be attended by tourism representatives of Ecuador who can


102

promote the country with a sustainable tourism focus, have very innovative ideas and who speak

Chinese, English and/ or Cantonese. In case they cannot speak any of the most spoken Chinese

languages, translators must be hired. The best outbound tourism fairs or events in China according

to WTO (2012) are: International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism (IFCOT), Beijing

International Tourism Expo (BITE), World Travel Fair (WTF), China International Travel Mart

(CITM), China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (CIBTM), Guangzhou

International Travel Fair (GITF) and China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market (COTTM).

7.3 Limitations

The limitations of this study are mainly regarding to its methodology section. Although attempts

have been made to reduce bias and increase validity, the author of this thesis recognizes that the

sample was too small and incentives should have been given to reach a wider audience, lucky draws

could have been an option to achieve that.

Another limitation was the fact that the researcher does not speak Cantonese nor Chinese Mandarin,

hence the process of translating questionnaires for Chinese citizens and its answers became very

long and complex.

Moreover as the researcher wanted to have the contribution of the Ministry of Tourism in her

research, international phone calls had to be made and this was very expensive and tedious. Also,

due to the transition of management authorities in this institution, their response speed to the

enquiries of the researcher was too slow and this affected the time management plan for this thesis

research.

Even though those limitations partially restrict the outcomes of this research, still this study presents

important insights which could contribute to the tourism promotion of Ecuador for the Chinese

market with a sustainable tourism approach.


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7.4 Suggestions for Future Research

This study proposes three main areas for further research. The first one relates to an in-depth

investigation about tourism competition among South American countries which target the Chinese

tourism market. The second one refers to a study focused on the perception of Ecuador among

Chinese travellers who have already been in Ecuador. And the last suggestion is to conduct a study

about the potential of Chinese luxury travellers and their responsible travel behaviour in order to

find out if they could be the right tourist segment for achieving the goal of Ecuador to become a

leading sustainable tourism destination.


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APPENDICES

Appendix A: 10 Reasons to visit Ecuador

10 REASONS TO VISIT ECUADOR

1

4 WORLDS, 1 COUNTRY

Where everything is close. Ecuador is a country where each region is a different world.

Galapagos Islands, Pacific Coast, Andes Highlands and Amazon Rainforest.

2

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD

At latitude 0º, in the middle of the world, shadows disappear in the presence of the

midday sun.

3

MEGABIODIVERSITY AND MULTICULTURALISM

The most megadiverse country per square kilometer. In relation to its surface, Ecuador

holds the greatest amount of species of plants and animals in the whole planet.

4

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

These islands are a living laboratory for animal species that can't be found elsewhere on

the planet. These islands inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

5

WORLD HERITAGE

Quito and Cuenca Cultural Heritage Cities. Galapagos National Park and Sangay

National park-Natural Heritage. Toquilla Straw Hat Intangible Cultural Heritage.

6

ANDES HIGHLANDS

Ecuador has 62 volcanoes over 4000 meters. The german explorer Alexander von

Humboldt called this section of the Ecuadorian Highlands "The Avenue of Volcanoes" in

1802.

7

AMAZON RAINFOREST

Discover the magic of the Ecuadorian jungle. Enjoy the silence and mystic that evolves

the rainforest with all the biodiversity that you can find there.

8

PACIFIC COAST

The highest mangrove swamps are located in the Majagual Forest, in the Cayapas-Mataje

Ecological Reserve. In the Machalilla National Park, the pristine beaches interact with the

precolombian culture history.

9

KEY PRODUCTS

Our key tourism products: Ecoturism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism.

10

CONSCIOUS TOURISM

A life-changing experience that generates personal growth and make us better human

beings.

Source: Ministry of Tourism official website (n.d.)


113

Appendix B : Questionnaire for Chinese Citizens in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and

Hong Kong about their View on Ecuador and their Tourism Preferences


114


115


116


117


118


119


120

Appendix C: Questionnaire for Representatives of Ecuador about the Tourism

Promotion of Ecuador in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong


121


122


123

Appendix D: Questionnaire for Tour Operators and Travel Agencies about Promotion

Strategies to Attract Chinese Tourists to Visit Ecuador


124


125


126


127

Appendix E: Social Media Channels used to get Responses to Online Questionnaire


128

Appendix F: QR code for Questionnaire of Chinese Citizens about their View on

Ecuador and their Tourism Preferences


129

Appendix G: Holidays in China in 2014

Weekday Date Holiday name Holiday type

Wednesday Jan 1 New Year's Day National holiday

Sunday Jan 26 Special Working Day Weekend

Thursday Jan 30 Spring Festival Eve Observance

Friday Jan 31 Chinese New Year National holiday

Saturday Feb 1 Spring Festival Golden Week holiday National holiday

Sunday Feb 2 Spring Festival Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Monday Feb 3 Spring Festival Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Tuesday Feb 4 Spring Festival Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Wednesday Feb 5 Spring Festival Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Thursday Feb 6 Spring Festival Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Saturday Feb 8 Special Working Day Weekend

Friday Feb 14 Lantern Festival Observance

Sunday Mar 2 Zhonghe Festival Observance

Saturday Mar 8 International Women's Day Observance

Wednesday Mar 12 Arbor Day Observance

Thursday Mar 20 March equinox Season

Saturday Apr 5 Qing Ming Jie National holiday

Sunday Apr 6 Qing Ming Jie holiday National holiday

Monday Apr 7 Qing Ming Jie holiday National holiday

Thursday May 1 Labour Day National holiday

Friday May 2 Labour Day Holiday National holiday

Saturday May 3 Labour Day Holiday National holiday

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/new-year-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/spring-festival-golden-week


http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/spring-festival








http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/lantern-festival

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/zhonghe-festival

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/international-womens-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/arbor-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/seasons/vernal-equinox

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/qing-ming-jie



http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/labor-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/labor-day-holiday

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/labor-day-holiday


130


Sunday May 4 Special Working Day Weekend

Sunday May 4 Youth Day Observance

Saturday May 31 Dragon Boat Festival holiday National holiday

Sunday Jun 1 Children's Day Observance

Sunday Jun 1 Dragon Boat Festival holiday National holiday

Monday Jun 2 Dragon Boat Festival National holiday

Saturday Jun 21 June Solstice Season

Tuesday Jul 1 CPC Founding Day Observance

Friday Jul 11 Maritime Day Observance

Friday Aug 1 Army Day Observance

Saturday Aug 2 Double Seven Festival Observance

Sunday Aug 10 Spirit Festival Observance

Saturday Sep 6 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday National holiday

Sunday Sep 7 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday National holiday

Monday Sep 8 Mid-Autumn Festival National holiday

Wednesday Sep 10 Teachers' Day Observance

Tuesday Sep 23 September equinox Season

Sunday Sep 28 Special Working Day Weekend

Tuesday Sep 30 Special Working Day Weekend

Wednesday Oct 1 National Day National holiday

Thursday Oct 2 National Day Golden Week holiday National holiday

Thursday Oct 2 Double Ninth Festival Observance

Friday Oct 3 National Day Golden Week holiday National holiday

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/national-day-moved-weekend

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/youth-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/dragon-boat-festival

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/children-day



http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/seasons/june-solstice

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/founding-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/maritime-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/army-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/double-seven-festival

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/spirit-festival

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/mid-autumn-festival



http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/teachers-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/seasons/autumnal-equniox



http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/national-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/national-day-golden-week

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/double-ninth-festival



131


Saturday Oct 4 National Day Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Sunday Oct 5 National Day Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Monday Oct 6 National Day Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Tuesday Oct 7 National Day Golden Week holiday Common Local holidays

Wednesday Oct 8 Special Working Day Weekend

Thursday Oct 9 Special Working Day Weekend

Friday Oct 10 Special Working Day Weekend

Saturday Oct 11 Special Working Day Weekend

Saturday Nov 8 Journalists' Day Observance

Sunday Dec 21 December Solstice Season

Thursday Dec 25 Christmas Day Observance

Source: Time and Date, 2014









http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/journalists-day

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/seasons/december-solstice

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/china/christmas-day

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