This article published this last week on Yahoo, entitled Olympics could be a bust for Beijing hotels, confirms many of my predictions: China has spent a reported $40 billion on new infrastructure and stunning venues, hoping to impress visitors with a modern city when the games begin Aug. 8. But the lack of reservations could […]
You’re planning your next internet company, you intend to reach out to a broad audience-the whole world, so where do you base it-West Coast of the US, Europe, or China? (This is by no means a comprehensive analysis of this topic.) These are a few thoughts I have on the relative advantages of each location, […]
As Facebook looks to its Chinese users to translate the site into Chinese, the expectation is that Facebook will soon enter the Chinese market. Facebook tried to enter China previously through acquisition of an existing Chinese social network but nothing came of the negotiations. Will Facebook have more luck this time? Or better yet, will […]
China’s internet firewall has been working in overdrive lately in the wake of the crackdown on the Tibet protests. Last week Google video and Youtube (owned by Google) were down all week; Youtube came back online on Sunday. Google News in English, news.google.com, was even down for a day! Last week, I also ran into […]
The number, type, variety, and frequency of Beijing 2008 Olympics’ advertisements is simply astounding. In the lead up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, I don’t remember nearly so many advertisements relating to the Olympics. Granted, I wasn’t in Georgia or even Atlanta, but then again, here I’m not in Beijing either. I was, however, […]
I recently heard a story about a German-owned travel company in Shanghai from a friend who works there. The company has been operational in Shanghai for 5-10years. When the company started, China forbid foreign-owned travel businesses so the company operated as a ‘consultant’ who just also occasionally booked trips. (Note: This has changed somewhat since […]
For the non-lawyer among us, forming the legal entity for a new business can act as a small roadblock in the early stages. In China, formation can be a much larger roadblock, especially as a foreigner trying to navigate countless ministries, language barriers, develop the necessary guanxi, and just generally figure out how the system […]
In my air travels both domestically within China and internationally on Chinese airlines, I have been incredibly disappointed. After yesterday’s flight on China Southern, I realized I didn’t need to be disappointed with all Chinese airlines, just China Eastern and Air China, because China Southern does a great job and does things ‘right’ where the […]
(Well here’s a very strange situation…I wrote this Sunday night. It got posted to my website and was even imported into Facebook. But when I looked at my website on Monday, it was gone! Either someone deleted my post or my content management system lost it. I have no idea how either could happen, but […]
As I mentioned in the blog below, there are certainly issues that need to be worked out in China’s travel/tourism industry. In the following article, these are elaborated on, even to the point of suggesting they are real problems that could undermine China’s ability to grow its tourism industry. Tourism Skills Shortage in China onrec.com […]
Check out this report from the UNWTO: WTO: China Will Become The Largest Travel Destination By 2020 February 5, 2007 The World Tourism Organization says that by 2010 China will exceed Spain and become the world’s second most popular travel country, and by 2020 it will become the largest travel destination in the world. The […]
This interview by a China blogger with an—dare I say—expert on Chinese outbound tourism is quite interesting and very informative. Roy Graff’s business concept is brilliant, just wish I’d thought of that. Tourism is fundamentally a good thing and Chinese outbound tourism helps to reduce China’s astronomical trade surplus. And I’m all for speeding up […]
Saturday night, Andrew and I sat at a bar discussing how we could get our picture on the cover of Entrepreneur magazine, ie what either of us could do to become a successful entrepreneur. Not long after this conversation, a few USC alums walked in, including a couple who have started a number of their […]
As I sit at my job, I think it’s all right. The job itself is actually pretty good, yet I can’t help but wonder, is this it? I know I’m doing it for the pay and the experience now, because I know I’m young and have many opportunities ahead of me and I just need […]