We have compiled a guide for Chinese tourists on how to behave in Russia. Express line Selling your goods and services to Chinese tourists

A quarter of a million Chinese spent at least a billion rubles in St. Petersburg over the course of a year. The city did not see this money. Market participants talk about a small but strong mafia.

Alexander Petrosyan/Kommersant

By volume of Chinese tourist flow northern capital second only to Moscow and, of course, Far East. Over the past year, 225 thousand Chinese arrived in the city on the Neva only as part of a visa-free exchange. This May, according to tour operators, more than 15.5 thousand tourists from China visited Moscow and St. Petersburg. They check into hotels, walk, eat, buy souvenirs and jewelry. But their money does not end up in the city budget. Having swirled around in the shadowy St. Petersburg market, the yuan returns to the Middle Kingdom, and sometimes does not leave it at all.

Bill and tip - in China

There are dozens of restaurants in the city aimed at Chinese tourists. Even if we don’t talk about the small shops on the outskirts, only in the center are the “Chinese Yard” on Truda Square, “Tang Zhao” on Izmailovsky, and “Compass” on the Griboyedov Canal striking. Such establishments belong to the Chinese. This does not mean that a native Petersburger will not be able to get there, but special conditions Only a tourist from the Middle Kingdom who arrived as part of a group can expect payment. In Compass, for example, it turned out that money can simply be transferred to the card of a manager in China to pay for a future meal. The main thing is to do this in advance so that the card owner has information about the transfer of funds.

Apparently this is common practice. “They work according to the scheme: I feed your groups here, and in China let someone give this money to my sister,” says Victoria Bargacheva, head of the St. Petersburg Association of Chinese Language Guides and Translators. “It turns out cheap, sometimes about 30 yuan per person for lunch (about 250 rubles).” It happens that a group of 50 people is issued a check for 500 rubles, or even just something like an expense order. How this affects tax revenues to the budget is a rhetorical question.

Experts say it's all about the traditional tastes of the Chinese. “Once they can try something out of curiosity, go in a huge crowd to a restaurant on Nevsky, order a steak for each,” says Leonid Garbar, head of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers in the North-West. – But we are talking more about those who came from Hong Kong, Shanghai, that is, cities open to Europe, and not from a million-plus village. The rest will initially choose Chinese food and Chinese restaurants, especially if there are agreements with them in advance.” At the same time, according to Leonid Garbar, in general the tourist flow from the Middle Kingdom does not have an impact on the city’s restaurant landscape, and the expert does not notice the Sinification of the market.

According to Bargacheva, restaurants often have something like exchange offices where they exchange yuan for rubles. The emergence of Internet banking and the development of mobile applications have made this service less popular. However, at one time, participants recall tourist market, in a restaurant near the Lion's Bridge, the tour leaders kept their funds, as if in a cell, not wanting to often carry cash across the border.

Opaque amber

The situation with souvenir shops is even more indicative. The host country, as a rule, again the Chinese, creates something like a cult of amber products among tourists. At least some of the jewelry comes to Russia from China: raw materials are purchased in Ukraine and Kaliningrad, processed in the Middle Kingdom, and then transported to St. Petersburg, where they are sold at a crazy markup.

The most visible specialized store is located on Obvodny, 108. The owner is the owner of one of the largest tour operators in China, Efensin, Han Te. The defense against strangers here is held no weaker than on Great Wall in the film of the same name with Matt Damon. The Fontanka correspondent was refused, under the pretext that this moment The store operates in corporate service mode. During a short conversation with the security guard, three chartered tourist buses with guests from China had accumulated outside the store.

It turned out no better with the Skazka souvenir shop on Aptekarskaya Embankment (owner Zhang Yu). Again, an unproductive dialogue took place with the security guard, who was clearly not ready for the appearance of a lone buyer. The correspondent was told that the empty store was being re-stocked, although it was difficult to notice from the general siesta atmosphere in the room. In addition, the security guard asked a question that was completely strange for retail: “Who told you about our store?” Economic theory is dry, and, apparently, for “The Fairy Tale” it is not advertising that is the engine of trade.

The daily turnover of large souvenir outlets in St. Petersburg owned by the Chinese can exceed 20 million rubles. At the same time, official reports show figures of several thousand, and in Smolny they know that stores do not issue cash receipts.

In addition, the same scheme is used as in restaurants: back in China, tourists leave a certain amount in the form of a kind of deposit, and in Russia they may no longer think about paying for goods. Lost budget revenues are difficult to estimate accurately. The relevant committee estimated that on average a tourist spends $40 a day on souvenirs. If we take into account that the Chinese spend at least two nights in St. Petersburg, 18 million dollars accumulate in a year - more than a billion rubles, which, in fact, have not left China. Approximately this amount may escape the attention of tax authorities. And this does not take into account restaurants and expenses.

Other Chinese shops - in the range from the "Tsar's Palace" to the "Tsar's Amber" - were found on Blagodatnaya, Orlovskaya and Michurinskaya streets.

About 150 thousand people out of 225 thousand traveled from the capital to St. Petersburg. With their arrival in the city of Peter through Belokamennaya, their solvency drops, and on the spot it turns out that it is again Chinese restaurants and merchants who make money from tourists. However, according to the general manager and owner of the Helvetia Hotel, Yunis Teymurkhanli, hostels that accommodate visitors and premium stores also benefit. “The mass tourist from China is a “shuttle traveler,” says the expert. “He comes to buy everything he can make money on later.” It’s not for nothing that at DLT all price tags are duplicated in Chinese.”

Labor exchange

There is another interesting observation related to Chinese restaurants and shops in St. Petersburg - their activity in the recruiting market. She can talk about either gray schemes labor migration, or about the true extent of the expansion of the Chinese Inland Empire in the city. Avinant LLC of Zhou Jingfang (restaurant "Compass") is looking for 24 employees, including 13 chefs, on the website of the city employment center. Three Chinese companies registered at Galernaya, 28, are recruiting 40 people. Hu Liqiang's Aurora LLC (Tang Zhao restaurant on Izmailovsky, 1), which requires 52 workers (38 cooks), has become even more widespread. Aurora itself explained its appetite by the expansion that began this year - in addition to Tang Zhao, they have a restaurant in the Gallery TG, and another one is being built in Peterhof.

In theory, the following scheme is visible. Job openings with not the most favorable conditions(19-20 thousand rubles for each of the named positions). If the Russians do not fill these vacancies, there is a basis for applying for quotas for Chinese employees. In the future, these permits can be used depending on the company’s true plans: to transport friends, sell, and the like. The Committee on Labor and Employment emphasizes that a vacancy must remain unclaimed by Russians for 30 days so that the employer has grounds to apply. After this, an analysis is carried out, and if the conclusion is positive, officials issue permission to attract foreigners. Quotas for migrants from China, as they say in Smolny, are not chosen, and they themselves are being reduced - from 2,676 people last year to 1,460 in 2017. " Largest quantity workers in 2016 were attracted to the catering sector: chef, cook, manager in catering and hotel services,” the committee says.

Limitless monopoly

According to the agreement between Russia and China, tourists can enter for 15 days on visa-free lists in the amount of 5 to 50 people (Rosturizm proposes to allow this for groups of 3 people). Under the agreement, a specialized information system (SIS) was created, which grew out of a data exchange system between insurance companies (and still performs this function). It was initially developed and maintained by SK World Without Borders LLC (now EIK MBG). In March 2016, Rostourism signed a contract for 1.7 million rubles for services with another company - MVK Service LLC. Until the fall of 2016, Tatyana Vvedenskaya, the wife of the ex-deputy head of the Federal Tourism Agency Ivan Vvedensky, was listed as the founder. He is also the deputy head of the non-profit partnership World Without Borders, which bears the same name as the developer. Judging by SPARK, the director of the NP was also Irina Yartseva, who held the position of head of management of Rostourism.

Chairman of the Council of the Association for the Promotion of Russian-Chinese Tourism Yuri Tsurkan claims that for many years the segment of receiving Chinese tourists was practically monopolized, and even now newcomers are strictly recommended to join the NP if they want to get into the SIS and make money on the growing tourist flow. It was the partnership that developed which is now being implemented at the state level, and also supports the introduction of a new specialty escort for Chinese groups. Fontanka's interlocutors from among the NP members associate Tsurkan's claims with an attempt to take as large a market share as possible.

“Our task is to avoid any associations,” says the head of the St. Petersburg tourism committee, Andrei Mushkarev. – No one is obliged to work through them, as well as to get into a specialized information system, this is simply not spelled out in any regulatory document. Now we are launching the process through our city tourist center, where it will be possible to draw up lists for receiving tourists, we will apply for them.”

In total, according to Rostourism, almost 1.3 million guests from the Middle Kingdom came to Russia in 2016, their number increased by 15%. The head of the inbound tourism department of the KMP company, Alexander Maklyarovsky, believes that only 15% of the Chinese tourist flow can be called transparent, the remaining 85% is in the shadows. “A strictly defined circle of companies of Chinese origin work with them, withdrawing money back to China,” says the expert. – Tourists are sold quasi-cheap tours, but these packages do not include many things that have to be purchased on the spot. As a result, they bring more money than “expensive” tourists from Australia or Brazil, but not to the Russian state, but to those who provide this opaque system. This is harmful to the professional community. In fact, there are systems operating in the market that are closed to themselves, let’s say, small peaceful mafias for now.”

Russia is among the top ten countries most often visited by guests from the Celestial Empire; the most popular cities in the country are Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the cities of the Far East.

Moscow - a city that attracts many tourists, including Chinese tourists. Therefore, in the capital we organize excursions to Chinese.

Our guides - These are licensed professional guides in Chinese with many years of experience in the tourism industry. Our guides not only have an excellent command of the Chinese language and knowledge of the history and culture of the city, but also know all the intricacies of communicating with tourists and guests from China.

Excursions for Chinese tourists in Moscow include most interesting story a guide who will reveal the secrets of our city and talk about the features of the architecture of past times.

Chinese tourists will be able to evaluate beautiful monuments, a magnificent historical part of the great city.

For a more detailed sightseeing, you can create an individual route that allows you to cover all the interesting historical and significant, popular among tourists, modern places.

By ordering a tour in Chinese you receive

1. A clearly planned excursion program adapted for the Chinese tourist.

2. High-quality transport service, punctuality and courtesy of the driver and guide.

3. The optimal route for visiting attractions, visiting museums without queuing.

4. Convenient payment method.

Excursions in Chinese in Moscow.

Excursion around evening and night Moscow for Chinese tourists.

Night tour of Moscow for Chinese tourists

Sightseeing tour“Moscow is the capital of Russia” for Chinese tourists. Moscow... Chinese tourist on Red Square	Excursion. Sightseeing tour “Moscow is the capital of Russia” for Chinese tourists. ★★★ An excursion accompanied by a professional guide in Chinese is a unique opportunity to get to know the capital in all its beauty and diversity, enjoy the city landscapes, learn many interesting historical facts, and fall in love with this city forever! ★★★ We will drive through famous embankment and streets historical city: Boulevard and Garden Rings, Kutuzovsky Prospekt; You will see the Bolshoi Theater and the Manege, Stalin's skyscrapers, the Arc de Triomphe, the golden domes of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the swan pond near the walls of the Novodevichy Convent, Sparrow Hills, the building of Moscow State University, the Luzhniki stadium. ★★★ At the end of the sightseeing tour, you will walk along the famous paving stones of Red Square, see the multi-colored domes of St. Basil's Cathedral, and enjoy the splendor of the panorama of the ancient Kremlin from the Sofia embankment of the Moscow River. The duration of the excursion is 4-5 hours.
"Lights of Moscow" for Chinese tourists. ★★★ Excursion accompanied by a professional guide in Chinese - You will plunge into a sea of ​​luminous lights and learn all the secrets night capital ★★★ On the excursion you will see St. Basil's Cathedral, admire the view of the Kremlin from Sophia Embankment, the panorama of Moscow from the Sparrow Hills, visit the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the Novodevichy Convent, Poklonnaya Hill, New Arbat, Tverskoy Boulevard, Theater Square. ★★★ We will start our tour of Moscow at night from the central part of the city, drive along the beautifully illuminated Garden Ring, and also look at all the main attractions of our beloved capital. The duration of the excursion is 3 hours.
Tour of Red Square for Chinese tourists Excursion around the Kremlin territory for Chinese tourists Excursion around the Kremlin territory for Chinese tourists	Tour of Red Square and the Kremlin territory for Chinese tourists. ★★★ The heart of Moscow, the main square of the city, stretching along the north-eastern wall of the Kremlin. Mausoleum, Place of Execution, St. Basil's Cathedral, Kazan Cathedral, Historical Museum and other attractions make it the place where all guests of the capital first go. ★★★ We will start our walk from Manezhnaya Square, we will see modern hotel, which was once the Soviet Hotel "Moscow" and was built under Stalin, let's look at the Manege building, which was built by the outstanding architect Osip Bove, the famous creator Bolshoi Theater. Let's go into the Alexander Garden, see the main Eternal Flame, which is guarded by soldiers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment and learn that there are actually three gardens there. And, of course, we will visit Red Square itself with all its main attractions. The duration of the excursion is 2-3 hours.

Cost of sightseeing tour for Chinese tourist groups.

Price in rubles (₽) per person

The Central Department Store (Trading House TSUM, owned by Mercury) is counting on an increase in the share of Chinese tourists among buyers of luxury goods. Their share in TSUM's revenue could grow from 7 to 30% within two to three years, said TSUM general manager Alexander Pavlov. In the DLT department store in St. Petersburg, according to him, this share is now 17%.

The number of Chinese buyers has been growing since the end of 2014, primarily due to the devaluation of the ruble against major currencies, explains Pavlov. In 2015, the revenue of the Mercury fashion department grew by 2-3% in foreign currency (30% in rubles), in 2016 it may increase by 10-12% in foreign currency. In January alone, foreign exchange earnings increased by 20%, Pavlov said. Pavlov did not disclose the amount of revenue. Earlier in early February, the head of the department of national policy, interregional relations and tourism of the capital, Vladimir Chernikov, said that tourists from China spent from $800 million to $1 billion in Moscow in 2015 - not only on souvenirs, but also on more expensive purchases, for example jewelry.

Now TSUM is negotiating cooperation with Chinese tour operators outbound tourism and Russian inbound tourism, said Pavlov. TSUM and DLT have submitted applications for inclusion in the China Friendly program; they may become the first shopping centers included in the program, a representative of the World Without Borders travel association told Vedomosti. Shopping centers Those receiving the China Friendly mark provide information materials and business cards in Chinese, introduce signs and signs with standard pictograms, and hire employees who speak Chinese, says Anna Sibirkina, head of the China Friendly program. At TSUM they began duplicating signs in Chinese, the number of employees who speak Chinese is growing, there are now 25, Pavlov said.

Photo gallery

One of the most important criteria for inclusion in the China Friendly program is the presence of a POS terminal with the ability to pay with China Unionpay cards or an ATM that accepts such cards, says Sibirkina. There is a possibility of paying with China Unionpay cards, and there is a special discount of 5%, Pavlov said. In 2015, Russia, according to Sibirkina, was visited by 670,000 tourists from China - 63% more than in 2014, the share of group tourism in the incoming tourist flow from China increased from 70 to 80%, and the number of arrivals of citizens from China - 1.3 million. Chinese tourists are indeed increasingly interested in shopping in Russia, firstly, it is profitable due to the low exchange rate of the ruble, and secondly, Moscow is the closest to China European capital, says Sibirkina.

How much is spent on luxury goods in Moscow and around the world?

Moscow ranked eleventh among world capitals in sales of luxury goods in 2015, with a market volume of 3.2 billion euros, analysts at Altagamma & Bain calculated. New York traditionally took first place (27 billion euros), followed by Paris and London (13.5 billion and 12 billion euros).

Since February 4, Mercury has reduced prices for clothing, shoes, and accessories by 10-25% in all boutiques and department stores of TsUM in Moscow and DLT in St. Petersburg, comparing them with prices in Milan, the company also reported. Bosco di Ciliegi did not change prices; the number of Chinese tourists among GUM visitors is growing, a company representative said. Chanel does not comment on pricing, but since March 2015, the company has followed a policy of price harmonization around the world: prices for all categories of goods are regulated depending on the exchange rate of the national currency, Chanel said in an official statement.

Bain & Company predicted a decline in the luxury goods market in Russia by 25% to 3.2 billion euros in 2015 and by 2% in rubles.

Tell us about yourself through Chinese gastro bloggers!

Chinese tourists traveling in groups and individually enjoy the following things most when traveling:

SEE the sights BUY goods and souvenirs TRY local cuisine

And most of all they like to repeat each other - the effect "word of mouth" in China drives all sales!

Therefore, a story about your restaurant, hotel, club or store from Chinese bloggers popular in China is the simplest and most effective (in terms of cost/return rate) tool for attracting Chinese travelers.

How will this be implemented?

Several top Chinese food bloggers with over 30 million followers in China will be traveling, watching, buying and tasting our hospitality!

Bloggers will continuously post everything they see and their emotions on their blogs:

And also at specialized tourism forums in China, where, in addition to tourists, representatives of Chinese travel companies also receive information.

Where will bloggers visit/visit/visit?
To you!

Don’t miss the opportunity to fit your business into the schedule of a Chinese tourist who will follow the bloggers in the “footsteps” of his publications!

THE COST OF WORK TO PROMOTE YOUR RESTAURANT, STORE, HOTEL OR CLUB INCLUDES:

Visit by bloggers on one of the days of their stay in your city Writing a review/description in three in social networks: WeChat, Weibo, Youku Writing an extended review for travel portals in China Providing all materials in Chinese for later use

How will your Chinese clients find you?

We will register you an account in the most popular messenger/social network in China, WeChat (the price of the blog tour includes registration of one service account).

A description of your business, address and contact information in your WeChat account will allow you to place a link to your account in bloggers’ posts and make it easy for your Chinese guests to find you.

All you have to do is answer to the requests of Chinese travelers!

Don't worry, solo travelers speak English, so you don't need to learn Chinese.

In July-August 2017 (that is, quite recently), the digital agency CHINA SMM proved, not for the first time, the effectiveness of working with Chinese bloggers.

During this blogger’s visit to Russia, the task of attracting Chinese users was solved for several Russian companies at once:

Restaurant chain Ginza Project;

Azimut Hotel;

DLT (the oldest department store in St. Petersburg);

United Confectioners - branded retail of the chocolate brand "ALENKA".

And these are not all the tools that we have at our disposal to develop your business with China!

Ctrip traffic: PC Homepage Page View 2 Million per day, APP Homepage Page View around 20 Million per day

Qunar: PC - 75 million monthly visitors and 34 million activated mobile app users per day

Elong: PC - 1 million/day, APP 4 million/day

Leading Chinese travel and ticket aggregators - multi-million daily reach and great variability in advertising formats.

Make a request, we will prepare a personalized offer!