Great China Welcome Charter

Walton Robinson has been awarded a new Chartermark confirming its suitability for Chinese visitors.

The GREAT China Welcome Charter was launched in 2014 by VisitBritain to help make Britain the destination of choice for the rapidly-growing Chinese market.

Visitors from China to Britain have trebled in the last five years and tourism bosses believe they will be worth over £1 billion to Britain by 2020.

The Charter – which now has over 400 members - is designed to help Chinese visitors easily identify accommodation providers, attractions, retailers and tour operators that are making themselves ‘China-ready’ by providing information in Chinese and creating new products, especially for the market.

Walton Robinson, who also joined The China Britain Business Council (CBBC) in 2017, qualified for membership of the VisitBritain programme following years of commitment to the Chinese market. The Newcastle based property agency has several Chinese speaking staff members and a large following on Chinese social media sites Weibo and WeiXin. 

Mark Walton, managing director of Walton Robinson, said, “We pride ourselves on providing very high standards of service to all our customers and the Chinese are no exception. We have been experiencing strong interest from Chinese students for many years and since the launch of our serviced apartments and holiday lets business we are also well-placed to help tourists. Our clients from China seem to particularly appreciate the fact that we have in-house Chinese staff to understand their needs and communicate in their native language.”

Jo Leslie, who manages the GREAT China Welcome programme for VisitBritain, said, “There is strong evidence that businesses who go the extra mile in catering for certain nationalities quickly reap the benefits. Walton Robinson is a great example of a property agency which has been quick to recognise the massive potential of the Chinese market and invested accordingly. We look forward to working with them in building their share of the market.”

For more information about the Charter please see www.visitbritain.org/greatchinawelcome