Baidu Maps Announces Strategic Cooperation with Nordic Tourism Bureaus Amidst Wider Global Expansion

Chinese web giant Baidu invited representatives of the tourism boards of Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark to Beijing in order to announce a strategic cooperation plan enabling Chinese-language mapping services for tourists to the four Northern European destinations.

The service, which mirrors similar existing agreements Baidu has already struck with tourism agencies in Thailand and South Korea, will go beyond simple mapping and provide users with in-depth recommendations for tourist attractions as well as language services. Baidu will continue this formal cooperation with its European partners until the end of 2017, collaborating further through social media campaigns, news conferences and data integration and exchange.

On top of its specialised partnerships with destination tourism boards, Baidu has recently rolled out its conventional mapping services worldwide, now providing coverage to 99 percent of the world’s population. While Baidu Maps is China’s leading mapping service, counting approximately 300 million users and a market share of 70 percent, it currently is only used by 25 percent of Chinese tourists when overseas – an obvious target group that will benefit from its growing accessibility internationally.

Outbound tourists represent an obvious first step in the Baidu Maps’ internationalisation and enhanced services, such as those seen in Thailand, South Korea and Northern Europe, will help establish the product as an indispensable tool for Chinese consumers when overseas, who have until now typically been more reliant on Google Maps.

Building upon this customer base, Baidu hopes that, by 2020, as many as 50 percent of Baidu Maps users will be based outside of China.

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute provides expert insights into the worldwide developments of China’s outbound tourism market. As Chinese outbound tourists are travelling to a large range of destinations, our publications cover a number of regions, providing detailed insights and analysing visitor behaviour.

With COTRI’s insights you can forge a successful business strategy built upon in-depth market expertise, comprehensive qualitative analysis and future projections. The Autumn 2016 Edition of the COTRI Market report features in-depth exploration of the developing trends in the field, supported by a wealth of qualitative and quantitative statistical research.

Sources: China National Tourism Administration, China Daily

Photo: flickr