WeChat goes educational as VisitSweden (the Swedish National Tourism board) leads the way in connecting with travel industry
Beijing, China. – Dec. 22, 2014 -The first WeChat travel agent training program has gone live this week. VisitSweden takes advantage of China’s hottest social media platform to provide a training course for Chinese travel agents to learn about the Scandinavian country famous for its pristine nature and avant-garde design. Increased understanding about Sweden among the industry is likely to generate greater interest from Chinese travelers. Lynn Li, Country Manager of Visit Sweden in China comments that “Being the first tourism board to use WeChat to connect with the trade is proof of the highly innovative nature of Sweden as a country. We are very thankful to Dragon Trail Interactive for their role in conceiving such a creative solution.”
The move by VisitSweden comes at an optimal time, with the average Chinese consumer spending 170 minutes per day on the mobile phone and WeChat counting more than 440 million monthly active users at the end of August 2014. The WeChat training platform is easy to use as agents simply log in via their WeChat account and can run through the program anytime and anywhere. One to two hours commuting time are not uncommon in China, and this is a good opportunity to squeeze in some extra studying.
The training program provides basic information about Sweden as a tourist destination and encourages users to take a test at the end of each of the five sessions. Participants can progress to the next level only upon answering all questions correctly. Once all levels are completed, travel agents will receive an official certificate of competency. A lucky prize draw of Swedish designed products offers an additional incentive to complete the training. The social dimension of the application allows friends to post the test results via their WeChat wall.
George Cao, CEO of Dragon Trail Interactive, comments that succesful travel companies will leverage the power of social not just to increase brand awareness among consumers, but also as a platform to interact with the wider stakeholder community including industry partners.
