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Lovemore Chikova in Beijing, China—

Between last year and the end of this year, China would have built an additional 33 000 rural public toilets, and modify and renovate 57 000 others. Well, public toilets are not a subject that often draws the interest of many in Africa, or at least it’s a domain that many, including governments, take for granted.But in China, a massive work is being carried out to spruce up these public places of convenience. The above statistics on toilets were released by the deputy director-general for marketing and international cooperation for the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) Mr Feng Litao this week.

He was speaking at a Press conference in Beijing attended by African journalists and their counterparts from South-East Asia.

It turned out that the work being done on the public toilets is in the near future expected to persuade hundreds of tourists to visit China.

“This (building and upgrading of toilets) looks like a small issue, but it is a big reflection and devotion of the Chinese central government to upgrade its infrastructure,” Mr Feng explained.

“Speaking of the toilets, I would love to, in particular, mention an important work that CNTA has been doing over the years.

“We have carried out some investigation and research among those international tourists on which parts of our package they are most unsatisfied with. Apart from the smog and other problems the big cities have, they were unsatisfied with public hygiene toilets.”

Indeed, it is the “small” things that matter — that was the major lesson to be learnt from the presentation made by Mr Feng.

And it also emerged that there are many “small” things that Africans seem not to take seriously when it comes to tourism. Yet, tourism can play a major role in the economic turnaround of African economies.

The ingredients to attract more tourists are abundant in Africa — what with the continent’s beautiful scenery, coupled with its various natural parks hosting different species of wildlife?

But it cannot be said that the continent has reached its full potential in tourism, yet. Let us take China for example, which has been the biggest global source of outbound tourists since 2012.

According to the CNTA 2016 report for China’s Tourism Development, a total of 133 million international tourists visited the country last year, while 120 million Chinese travelled outside during the same period.

And the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) indicates that in the same year, total international consumption by Chinese tourists globally was worth at least $102 billion.

What should worry Africa is that of the 120 million Chinese outbound tourists last year, only a paltry 1,1 million bothered to visit the continent.

This is in sharp contrast with a country like Thailand which attracted eight million of those Chinese tourists, while Japan had five million.

In Africa, Egypt attracted the biggest number of the Chinese tourists in 2015 at 100 000, followed by South Africa at 80 000.

This poor performance by Africa as compared to other regions shows that something needs to be addressed urgently.

African countries need to re-look their marketing strategies.

Thailand’s eight million Chinese visitors were earned because of one good marketing strategy.

The Asian country produced a top-notch movie about its beautiful scenery, which became an instant hit in China.

African countries must also wake up to the realities of online marketing.

Tourists like to search information before they make-up their minds on destinations and only those presented articulately on the online platforms stand a good chance.

Aggressive marketing can also include inviting Chinese television stations to do local programmes and documentaries.

This makes it easier to reach out to that undecided Chinese, especially if the programmes are beamed on Chinese television channels.

African countries should also consider organising tours for large tour operators from China and the media.

These will in turn do the bidding for a particular destination to the Chinese customers.

Relaxing the visa application process for Chinese tourists is another measure that can easily encourage more travels to Africa. Recently, Zimbabwe announced that Chinese visitors will now apply for their visa on arrival.

Government attributed the 32 percent increase in tourist arrivals from China between March this year when the policy was announced and September to this move. Another helpful means to get the attention of the Chinese market is for African countries to apply for the Approved Destination Status (ADS) from China.

The ADS is a policy adopted by China through which, when the agreement is signed with a certain country, tourists in China will be encouraged to carry out group tours of that particular country.

At least 17 African countries, including Zimbabwe, have been granted this status by China and are already implementing it, while there 153 others with such an approval.

As explained by Mr Feng, to get an ADS, the concerned government expresses its willingness to be granted the status and the Chinese government carries out some verifications and assessments of the destination.

If approved, a high level meeting is held with the concerned country and the granting of the status is made public.

A memorandum of understanding will then be signed, followed by the exchange of a list of names of travel agencies which have the capacity to manage group tours in both countries.

After the assessment, the travel agencies will then be informed that they can start working together from both ends, based on the ADS.

There are also other “little” things that can make particular destinations favourable to Chinese tourists.

People from the Asian country like to drink warm water and would also like to watch Chinese television channels while away from home.

Host countries should strive to provide Chinese cuisines for the tourists, so that they do not miss home.

More duty free shops will enhance the shopping options for the Chinese, who are known for purchasing different wares when on tours as souvenirs and gifts.

It is a fact that most African countries are not yet used to smooth electronic payment systems, yet many tourists now find it backward to move around with cash.

Installing such machines in places like shopping malls and other markets will make it easier for tourists to transact and encourage them to return.

Mr Feng, who travelled to Zimbabwe for the UNWTO general assembly in 2013, had some advice for the country.

“When I went to Zimbabwe, besides the famous Victoria Falls, I saw some craftsmanship made out of wood and stone. I was very much impressed by those products and I believe other Chinese customers will love them,” he said.

“The hotel I lived in was very good in Zimbabwe. I have noticed that some Chinese enterprises are taking part in infrastructure construction, including airport construction. One thing I like to suggest is on transportation.

“If I travel by train from the capital to waterfalls (Victoria Falls) it takes some time. Improve also the so-called soft environment. I suggest you improve some Chinese indicators and signs in public places, including the airports, museums, restaurants, hotels and other spots.

Take Europe for example, if we go to Italy or Germany once we get off the plane we can see a lot of clear Chinese sings and indicators.”