Global Interview Project | Rémy Porta, CEO of AIGUEMARINE
Located in Paris, Shenzhen, and soon opening in Shanghai, AIGUEMARINE is an international travel agency primarily serving China’s elites. Its know-how is the conception of exclusive and customized journeys in Europe. To ensure customers enjoy the most exclusive accesses and lifestyle experiences, each travel plan is supervised by the Artistic Department of the agency, in Paris. Today it is my pleasure to report here my discussion with Rémy Porta, Founder & CEO of AIGUEMARINE.
Geoffrey Ravoire: How different are Chinese travelers compared to Europeans, Americans, or Asians in general?
Rémy Porta: As opposed to American or European travelers, the Chinese market is still immature, and not uniform in terms of its behavior and expectations. We welcome 3 different profiles of wealthy Chinese travelers: new money travelers who discover Europe for the first time and wish to see the basics of each destination, wealthy frequent travelers who request personalized packages and assistance, and wealthy individuals who love Europe and expect in-depth top luxury experiences, such as access to fashion shows, red carpet experiences during the Cannes Film Festival, etc. Our team relies on our long-term expertise of the Chinese market to satisfy the expectations of each of these profiles.
But one thing Chinese travelers all have in common is that they always are the biggest shopping addicts.
GR: What are the specificities and challenges of developing a single source market? Is it sustainable?
RP: I would not say that the Chinese market is a single source market. 25% of our leads come from Chinese speaking clients who don’t live in mainland China. More than 4 million people who belong to a community from China live in the USA today, 2 million in Canada, 1 million in Australia, 7 million in Malaysia, plus the wealthy Chinese speaking travelers from Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan … Through the Chinese language, our scope is very wide. This consideration makes our business sustainable.
Having said that, our main challenge is adapting the communication to appeal to the global Chinese speaking market while maintaining a distinct European flair. Being visible on Baidu and also on Google, being present on all Chinese social media like WeChat but also on Facebook, adapt our payment solutions…
GR: How has your competition evolved over the company’s existence?
RP: AIGUEMARINE has been founded in 2010, a perfect time to enter the market. Being the first operator doing luxury tailor-made tours in Europe for the Chinese market allowed us to become the European DMC (Destination Management Company) of reference and to quickly create many B2B relationships with the major luxury travel distributors in China.
Now there are more and more competitors: very large online tour operators based in China and a lot of micro actors in Europe. Actors in China have less of a need for DMCs, because of the availability of information on the internet. The B2B business has considerably decreased in just a few years.
For the past 2 years, our new strategy has been focused on capitalizing on the strength of the brand image while maintaining a high-end positioning on the B2C market. Now the main challenge is CRM and developing an efficient loyalty program for the end users and their entourage. Our B2C activity grows almost every year by a 3-figure percentage.
GR: How much of an impact do geopolitical events have on your business?
RP: During the 2016 summer season, the tourism in France and more specifically in Paris suffered from the events that made the headlines. In spite of this, France remained the world’s leading tourist destination in 2016 and the authorities are doing a lot to solve security problems. These events had a minor impact on our B2C business because we managed to compensate the decrease of the “France” turnover with other European destinations. As a European DMC, we have engaged in the promotion of other destinations in Europe such as Spain, UK, and Greece early last year.
The start of 2017 gives us confidence. Chinese travelers love France and Chinese travelers are quicker to reestablish their trust in France than some other Asian travelers.
GR: Travelers today are seeking out a more authentic experience, whether it’s a local guide, meeting locals, or eating regional produce. Do you experience this with your own clients? What do you think is driving demand for experiential travel?
RP: Once again, it depends on the profile of clients. The experimented travelers want a more authentic experience and are more willing to step out of their comfort zone. While newcomers are less likely to explore outside the usual tourist paths.
However, we should always incorporate Chinese habits into the Western experience, like going to good Chinese restaurants during almost each trip…
While the old motivation of taking pictures abroad to show their entourage back home remains a key factor, the wealthy Chinese now travel to have a memorable experience and forget the daily life. They request experiential travels to create unforgettable memories with their friends and families.
Finnish Lapland and Norway are our very trendy experiential destinations during the winter season: Icebreaker boat cruising, snow bike tours, king crab fishing and romantic nights in luxury glass igloo while admiring the beauty of the aurora borealis…
GR: According to you, what is your sector looking for in young graduates?
RP: The touristic destination management industry is looking for talents to innovate in the following fields: Improved management of the relationship with the travelers: passenger profiling and customization of offers, customer loyalty, sharing experiences, big data, predictive approaches, etc. Enhancement of the experience of visiting sites: improved geolocation, personalized interactions with visitors and re-enchantment of the experience (mobile, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, connected objects). Improving the societal impact: sustainable and responsible tourism, social and solidarity economy.
This interview is part of the Global Interview Project led by UNITIATE to build knowledge for the Travel & Leisure community of young professionals.
Follow UNITIATE here: LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | www.unitiate.org
