We would like to announce that WildChina is realigning its leadership team to better serve guests. All will be effective July 15, 2011.

To begin, founder Zhang Mei will be “coming home”, making a permanent move to Beijing, China after four years in Washington D.C.  She returns to Beijing to focus on building an outbound business servicing Chinese travelers to explore the world.  She will continue her active role in leading WildChina strategies.

Mr. Albert Ng will be stepping down as CEO and making a permanent move to Hong Kong; he will remain connected to WildChina as a non-executive adviser and shareholder.  Mr. Zhao Bei, who joined WildChina in 2004 and who was designated as the General Manager last December, will take over the reigns and manage the day-to-day operations of the company.

Founding member of WildChina Mrs. Barbara Henderson will move Vancouver, Canada, and establish a WildChina Vancouver Office. Having seen WildChina for 11 years, she will bring her vast experience in travel planning to lead our North American offices in business development and customer service.

Our office in Bethesda, Maryland, will relocate to the center of Washington D.C.  This office will continue its primary function in sales and marketing, and servicing the travel agents in America. The new office address is: 1920 N. Street, N.W. Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20036.

Finally, WildChina has consolidated leisure journeys across all geographical regions into one team.  We believe that doing so will allow us to take premium leisure travel to the next level.  Mrs. Veronique d’Antras will take the lead on this initiative after her years of directing our Europe team.

From Left: Albert Ng, Zhang Mei, Sunshine Shang, Zhao Bei, Barbara Henderson, David Fundingsland, Veronique d'Antras, Bao Xun

CONTACT INFORMATION

For our old friends and clients, your existing contacts at WildChina will continue to serve you.

If you have any questions, comments, or would like to submit client enquiries, please contact the respective members of the WildChina team:

• Travel agents in the U.S. – Pat Ouellette at pat.ouellette@wildchina.com or by phone at +1-888-902-8808
• Travel partners in Latin America – Claudia Pumarejo at claudia.pumarejo@wildchina.com

• Travel partners in other parts of the world –  Veronique d’Antras at Veronique.dantras@wildchina.com
• Educational & Non-profit Organizations – David Fundingsland at david.fundingsland@wildchina.com
• Corporate Services & Special Projects – Pan Wei at wei.pan@wildchina.com

In summary, we believe that realigning these roles allows us to streamline our operation, provide wider geographical coverage, and raise standards of excellence.  As always, we remain committed to crafting distinctive journeys that help travelers Experience China Differently.

If you have any further questions or comments, please contact us any time via info@wildchina.com.

WildChina was recently mentioned in two articles about China, which we’d like to share here.

• Making Business Travel Responsible in AmCham’s China Brief: Discusses ways business travelers and meetings planners can create more responsible meetings and events in China. Contains tips on ideas for getting out of a hotel ballroom, away from a powerpoint slide, and going green!

• China Marks Olympic Anniversary, Reflects on Olympic Legacy in Voice of America: Find out how Beijing has changed since August 2008. WildChina CEO Albert Ng discusses how tourism trends have evolved in the year after the Olympics.
  

We hope you enjoy these pieces! If you’re interested in talking to individuals at WildChina about travel in China or responsible travel, please contact emma dot starks (at) wildchina dot com

Happy travels!

WildChina’s CEO Albert Ng spoke on November 12^th, 2008 at the World Travel Market in London as part of the China Contact Future of Travel forum. An expert on China inbound tourism, Albert discussed the diverse possibilities for visitors to China outside of the most-visited sites. While attractions like the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors and the Bund in Shanghai are must-sees for the first-time visitor to China, there are a wealth of world-class attractions that go largely unvisited. Overall, while the travel market in China is slowly segmenting into offerings for a diverse array of clientele, the standard mass tourism mindset still prevails.

According to the World Tourism Organization, China is expected to attract 100 million tourists by the year 2020. This poses an interesting dilemma for sites that are often already packed to capacity. 85% of foreign visitors to China spend their time in only 20% of China’s landmass, and the market is dominated by cookie-cutter, mass-tourism experiences. WildChina, under the leadership of Albert Ng, has worked to expand China travel to more remote, off-the-beaten path areas, offering guests a highly distinctive experience. For example, WildChina has had great success in pioneering a trip to the grasslands of Qinghai for the July Yushu Horse Festival. During this annual event,  WildChina’s guests sleep at night in custom-built tents under the stars of the remote Tibetan Plateau, and during the day take part in the traditional horse-racing festivities.

You may not know it, but Mark Twain and Matt Damon have something in common: a belief that travel can bridge divisions between cultures and broaden our horizons. Twain once said that “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, ” and Matt Damon echoed this idea in his opening statement for the recent Condé Nast World Savers Congress.

Dedicated to honoring organizations and individuals that use the $8 trillion dollar tourism industry as an avenue for positive change in the world, the World Savers Congress brings travel professionals, philanthropists, activists, and changemakers together to honor those who are exemplary examples of the power that the travel industry can have for good.

WildChina’s CEO Albert Ng was invited to be on a panel to discuss the future of travel in China. Also on the panel was the distinguished Orville Schell, Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, Barbara Finamore, the Beijing-based Director of the National Resource Defense Council’s China Program, and a representative from the Marriott International Hotel Group.

Albert Ng at the Condé Nast World Savers Congress: China Panel

Photo courtesy of Elliott Ng. (his excellent post on the panel can be found here)

Read the rest of this entry »

• Here’s an interview our founder Mei Zhang did for Everett Potter’s TRAVEL REPORT.* In it, she talks about China travel safety, little-known but incredible locations, and finding the off-the-beaten-path  China even in Beijing and Shanghai.
• Wow! Glowing WildChina endorsement from Fodor’s: “This foreign-managed travel company is probably the best in China.”
• Familiar faces: Here’s a bio on Albert Ng, WildChina’s trusty CEO. Albert will be speaking on the Future of Travel in China at the World Travel Mart conference in London this November.

*Our readers in China may find it difficult to access Everett Potter’s travel blog.