On Thursday, 17 May, Tallink participated in Asia’s biggest tourism fair ITB China which is held in Shanghai and won the Global GOLD Prize in the CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Awards in the best Product Innovation category. Tallink says the award thus recognized the company’s efforts to enhance the quality of service offered to Chinese tourists on board Tallink and Silja Line vessels. It is recognised inside and outside China as the most important quality sign for the international Chinese outbound market, with wide coverage in print and electronic media.
Commenting on the awards, the CEO of Tallink Grupp, Mr Paavo Nõgene said:
“The number of Chinese and Asian tourists in general travelling on board Tallink ships has increased significantly in the last few years and, as the biggest shipping company on the Baltic Sea, we have therefore also adapted our services so we can offer Asian customers the types of services and comfort they are used to.
„It is a great recognition and a pleasant surprise for all our staff, that Tallink has been given such a prestigious award in the world’s most rapidly growing tourism market for the second time and this time with a gold-level award.“
According to Mr Nõgene Tallink has continuously invested in developing services aimed at meeting the needs of all its customers, including those from China and other Asian countries, on all its routes and it is those investments and efforts in specific that have now been recognised with the CTW award.
Mr Nõgene added:
“For instance, we have Chinese-speaking customer service hosts on our Finland-Sweden route’s cruise ships during the high summer season as well as on our Helsinki-Tallinn shuttles. Additionally, we pay attention to the Chinese New Year holiday season, have restaurant menus on board, shopping catalogues and other information materials available in Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
„We take Asian customers’ preferences into account when selecting products for our on board shops and also offer customer support in Mandarin, both in the form of a Mandarin language website as well as on such large social media platforms as WeChat and Weibo.“
The China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) gives out the annual Chinese Tourist Welcome Awards for the 15th time this year in five different categories: product innovation, marketing, service quality, internet/media and overall performance. The awards were announced at China’s largest B2B tourism fair ITB China in Shanghai last Thursday, 17 May.
In the innovation category, Federation of Tourism Walloon Brabant was awarded the Silver level and a UK-based tourism agency Beiwei 55° was awarded the Bronze level. In other categories, awards were given to such prestigious organisations and companies as Tourism Ireland, Royal Museums Greenwich, Merlin Entertainment Inc, Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Tourism Portugal and others.
Tallink received the CTW award for the second time. In 2016, the COTRI awarded Tallink with a Bronze level in the overall performance category. Asian tourists are the fourth largest customer group among Tallink customers overall.
AS Tallink Grupp is the leading passenger and cargo transportation service provider in the Northern region of the Baltic Sea. The company owns 14 vessels and operates under the brands of Tallink and Silja Line on 7 different routes. AS Tallink Grupp employs more than 7,400 people in the region and over 9.8 million passengers travelled on its ferries in 2017. AS Tallink Grupp is listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange.