Dragon Trail, helmed by Jens Thraenhart and George Cao, won the Gold Award for product innovation at the CTW (Chinese Tourists Welcoming) Awards.

These awards recognise companies that provide excellent services and products to the growing Chinese outbound tourism market.

Said Professor Wolfgang Arlt, director of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, organiser of the CTW Awards, “What impressed the international jury was the fact that Dragon Trail’s approach creates tremendous efficiencies for companies looking to enter the Chinese market. By helping clients understand the local consumer, the local travel trade, and the Chinese online landscape, Dragon Trail builds a powerful solution that makes it possible for clients to adapt to the changing market.”

Founded less than a year ago, Dragon Trail promotes innovative approaches such as building a custom execution, based on establishing a solid online infrastructure, and on Dragon Trail’s proprietary Ring Strategy, as well as proprietary travel technology applications from trip planning, meta search, e-learning, online community, and social media applications.

“While outbound travel fulfillment in China is still predominantly done offline via traditional tour operators and travel agents, the Internet is the catalyst of influencing consumers to then go to the tour operator to ask for the destination or hotel brand.

Increasingly, consumer research, brand recognition and travel purchasing are shaped by the Internet, and Chinese consumers are often more educated about brands than consumers in the West. Due to the complexity of the Chinese market, it is important not to start with a static website that is translated from English into Chinese or a digital campaign using only the big online portals, but to focus on developing a relevant and engaging web presence in China,” said Thraenhart, co-founder and chief strategist at Dragon Trail.

According to the China Tourism Academy, in 2010, 54 million Chinese are forecasted to travel across the border, more than ever before.

China, with over 400 million Internet users, has already become one of the most engaged countries online with 92% of online users contributing to blogs and social networks.

“With 85% of Chinese people approving the Internet censorship of sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, it creates a completely different online playing field with new rules of engagement. Traditional public relations tactics are not enough to spread the word. The ability to leverage technology will be a critical success factor for brands looking to enter the market, especially in connecting consumers with the trade,” added George Cao, co-founder and Chief Technologist of Dragon Trail.