The Beatles Story, an award-winning exhibition situated at the Royal Albert Dock on Liverpool’s UNESCO World Heritage waterfront, attracts over 320,000 visitors a year, an increase of 5% on 2018 visitor numbers, with 65% of our visitors from overseas.
China is one of The Beatles Story’s key international target markets, with a growing number of Chinese tourists visiting the exhibition and has been the most prominent Asian market for the leading Liverpool attraction over five years.
To accommodate visitors from these territories, the attraction provides multimedia guides in both Mandarin and Cantonese, alongside ten other international languages. Visitors are greeted by a team of staff who can speak Mandarin and Cantonese to ensure their Chinese visitors receive a warm welcome.
In 2019, staff also undertook ‘Warm Welcome Chinese training’ which equips both their customer-facing and marketing team with valuable insights into the motivations and expectations of China’s outbound tourists.
The Beatles Story have been investing in promoting their award-winning attraction to Chinese visitors for over five years and in 2020 the major Beatles attraction will celebrate its 30th anniversary.
The celebrations have started with the launch of their unique Chinese website (beatlesstory.cn), to enable potential visitors from the country to easily access information and book tickets in advance, along with a verified presence on key Chinese social platforms including Weibo, WeChat service account, and Yoku, the eastern equivalents of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Chinese visitors can also buy tickets through key Chinese tour operators including Ctrip, Fliggy, Mafengwo, Tuniu, Ly.com, Qyer, and Qunar.
As a member of Visit Britain’s GREAT China Welcome programme which aims to make Britain the destination of choice for the rapidly-growing Chinese market, the team have been working hard to develop services to cater for the increasing number of Chinese visitors. Sales missions to Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and Xi’an have seen representatives from the attraction forge stronger relationships with top Chinese Travel Trade partners in order to promote Liverpool, and its unique Beatles tourism products, as a must-see tourist destination for Chinese visitors.
In 2019, Liverpool celebrated the 20th anniversary of the twinning of Liverpool and Shanghai and to celebrate this milestone year, The Beatles Story hosted Chinese VIPs, familiarization trips and Chinese government delegations. This engagement included visits from Chinese influencers such as Jay Chau (周杰倫), Hannah Quinlivan (昆凌), and James, Zonghan Li (李宗翰), and the impact of their engagement through their social and digital channels was extremely successful in growing the attraction’s awareness within this market.
Liverpool is home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe, located in the south of the City Centre. Chinatown is also notable for its arch, a gift from Shanghai, which was assembled in 2000, and the annual Chinese New Year celebrations are held in Liverpool’s Chinatown every year.
In 2020, with increased Chinese visitors coming into the UK, especially to Liverpool, The Beatles Story attraction will continue working closely with the city and its key partners to place the award-winning attraction firmly on the map as a must-visit destination telling the story of the world’s greatest band.
As we celebrate the Chinese ‘Year of the Rat’, the future within the Chinese market for the top Liverpool attraction looks set to soar even further and their team have everything in place to ensure that they are China-ready and look forward to welcoming more international visitors to the city to join their 30th anniversary celebrations.