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London, London, City of, United Kingdom
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Beijing, China
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Tel Aviv-Yafo, Tel Aviv, Israel
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New York, United States
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Consulting
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Market Entry
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Due Diligence
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Investigation or Intelligence
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Events
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Design & Production
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Tourism and Travel
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Tours and Travel Package Sales
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Other
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Training and Coaching
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Mergers and Acquisitions
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Product Development
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Fluency in Two or more Languages
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Branding, Brand Management and Marketing
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English: Native
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Mandarin Chinese: Fluent
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Hebrew: Fluent
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Consultant and Business Development Specialist
London / New York
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Contact me if you have:
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tourism development plans related to China's interior, or a desire to unlock new frontiers in Chinese outbound investment
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Contact me if you need:
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an advisor or operating executive who can turn an idea about China-related tourism into a profitable reality
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Roy holds a bachelor’s degree in Chinese and Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He speaks business level Mandarin Chinese fluently. Roy has made his career in travel and tourism business development with an emphasis on China. He has a deep understanding of China’s culture and business practices developed from academia, public and private sector work since 1994. He is an experienced travel marketing and distribution executive involved in e-commerce, online travel and hospitality.
Since 2005, he combines consultation on China’s tourism sector with several travel and hospitality ventures in China and runs several forums and conferences on China’s Travel Industry including “China the Future of Travel” held annually in London since 2006. Roy maintains a blog on developments in China’s travel and tourism sector which is the most comprehensive resource on the subject. In 2005 he published the China Outbound Travel Handbook (updated in 2008) and made it available free of charge online.
Roy is Director of China Business Services, a research driven consultancy for due diligence and commercial intelligence in China and European Director of the China Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum. He is a founder member of the China Advisers Network (C.A.N), an association of leading China specialists and advisers from various disciplines in the UK. In 2008 Roy joined TEAM Tourism Consulting as an associate.
His list of clients includes national and city tourism boards, hotel chains, tour operators and travel technology companies. Among them: VisitBritain, Visit London, Tourism Ireland, Peninsula Hotels and Resorts, Eye for Travel, UKinbound, English Heritage, China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market, World Travel Market, Viator.
Roy writes regular columns for TravelMole, China Ethos Magazine and the China Outbound Travel newsletter.
Returning to Europe after a long period of travel industry work in China, Roy founded ChinaContact in 2005 to assist tourism companies, travel providers and tourism promotion bodies eager to discover the tremendous potential of China as both market and destination. Since 2002 until early 2005, Roy was engaged in senior level business development and travel product distribution for the world’s leading independent provider of products and services to the travel trade, Gullivers Travel Associates (gta – now part of Travelport).
He lived in China’s two commercial power houses, Beijing and Shanghai and traveled extensively to China’s major cities, forging good personal relationships with key private sector and government contacts. Building on his experience of online travel, sales and marketing and China know-how, he was tasked with launching a brand new merchant model travel site to the Chinese market.
Roy served as China Director of E-commerce for gta, overseeing all aspects of the company’s electronic product distribution in China. In September 2004, Roy planned and executed a high level three day conference on modern tourism trends titled ‘The Future of Travel is Here’, co-hosted by Beijing Municipal Tourism Board. It was attended by provincial and city tourism board chairpersons from China, senior level representatives from UNESCO, WTTC, Visa, AIG and other leading international companies totaling over 100 participants.
As a keen supporter of sustainable development and environmental protection he held several volunteer positions, including Vice President of communications at PACE (Professional Association for China’s Environment) in China and council member of Tourism Concern in the UK. Roy cooperates with UNESCO, IUCN and other bodies to promote a sustainable and ethical tourism industry in China.
Prior to his work in China Roy was based in gta’s headquarters in London as sales manager of independent travel responsible for several international markets including India, Pakistan, Turkey, Greece, Israel, UK and Ireland.
China Outbound Travel Handbook
This handbook was written from two distinct business views - Chinese local
expertise and Western experience of doing business in China. As such, it provides
practical information you can use as well as insight into the challenges of dealing
with China’s tourism industry and how to prepare for them.
Roy Graff Business Development
June 2010 - Present
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London, London, City of, United Kingdom
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Owner
Our services
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E-commerce development
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Emerging markets strategies
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Online strategy review & planning
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Market entry business planning
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E-commerce business development
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Cross cultural training / coaching
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Digital media / social network marketing
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Event planning and production
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Commercial negotiations
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Brand development
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Background
- Roy has worked in the travel and hospitality sectors since 1996 in the full range of travel sales, distribution, planning, marketing and commercial negotiation roles.
- He was a pioneer in the launch of independent travel distribution platforms across China and South East Asia.
- Roy worked at senior levels for the leading wholesale and online travel brands.
- His proven track record of results is in the most challenging and fast moving business environments.
- Roy has an extensive global network of senior executive contacts in the private and public sector.
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TEAM Tourism Consulting
December 2008 - Present
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Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Associate
TEAM Tourism Consulting is a specialist international tourism consultancy which focusses exclusively on working for tourism destinations, primarily in the fields of:
* Tourism strategy & destination management planning
* Destination marketing and brand development
* Business planning and operations management
* The application of information technology and e-business
* Restructuring and re-engineering of tourism organisations
* Design and management of market research
* Visitor services strategy and operations
* Business tourism strategy and operations.
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China Business Services
January 2008 - Present
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London, United Kingdom
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Director
Director of the company and Senior advisor to the board on China hospitality, tourism and travel related projects.
China Business Services provides comprehensive advisory and project management services for a wide range of client requirements.
As we build and manage our teams to meet the demands of each project, we are able to deliver integrated solutions across a wide range of issues. Our clients gain significant benefits from our innovative structure – which provides a flexible, extended team – and from our experience of managing complex projects.
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ChinaContact
January 2005 - Present
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London, United Kingdom
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Managing Director
ChinaContact develop modern travel distribution and management for the Chinese travel space. We work with tourism destinations, hotel chains, tour operators and technology companies and help with market access in both directions - China to the West and the West to China.
Examples of the services provided:
1. Complete China market representation for tourism boards, airlines, hotels and tour operators
2. GSA services including sales and operations.
3. Strategic consulting and planning for China market entry
4. Deal brokerage for travel and hospitality investments in China.
5. Marketing and sales representation for Chinese travel organizations and destinations in European market.
6. Training and education on China's tourism industry
7. Event production in China and the UK
Clients serviced include among others:
- Sportsworld Group, TUI (China business development)
- Visit London (China marketing and event production)
- UKinbound (Exhibition design and production)
- Xian City government
- Tourism Ireland
- English Heritage
- Peninsula Hotels and Resorts
- China Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum
- Viator
- World Travel Market (Organising forum on China tourism)
- China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market (consulting and forum)
- Asia Luxury Travel Mart (keynote speaker)
- AC Tours (China market development for wholesale tours in UK)
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Expedia
September 2009 - May 2010
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London, London, City of, United Kingdom
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Director - New Business Development
In March 2010 Roy launched AgentRez, a user friendly booking tool for travel agents providing access to all of Expedia's unrivalled hotel inventory at special industry commission rates.
Roy was head of travel trade business development at EAN.
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Great Eastern Studio
January 2008 - September 2009
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London, United Kingdom
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Partner
Great Eastern Studio:
Centre for China culture and business communication skills training
Located in the City of London, the centre offers workshops and seminars on Chinese cultural communication and business etiquette.
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China Venture Capital and Private Equity London Forum
April 2007 - September 2009
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London, United Kingdom
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European Director
European organiser of China Venture Capital and Private Equity Forum, the premier event for Venture Capital and Private Equity in China.
The forum is held in China, Japan, USA and UK
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ChinaContact Forum on China's Travel Industry
November 2006 - November 2008
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London, United Kingdom
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Director
'China - the Future of Travel' is the first pan-industry conference on bilateral tourism relations between China and Europe. It is run in by ChinaContact annually since 2006 in London.
With strong support from the tourism boards of UK and China as well as government and tourism bodies (such as CBBC, WTTC, UKinbound), this event focused attention on the importance in developing strong bilateral tourism relations with China.
The conference serves as a unique platform to discuss improvements to travel and tourism cooperation, presents tourism related investment opportunities and provides a useful networking event for European and Chinese tourism officials, industry professionals and the media.
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Gullivers Travel Associates
February 2002 - September 2004
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London, United Kingdom
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E-Commerce Director China
International tourism service provider for the travel industry with 31 offices worldwide and over GBP 1billion turnover annually.
• Conceived and directed the first joint industry forum between a western travel company and a Chinese government tourism administration, which provided the company with priceless PR and credibility in the market.
• Eliminated duplication of problem reporting to the help-desk through centralising the IT support for all 11 Asia offices, giving head office more time to fix problems and a clear picture of system implementation in my area.
• Coordinated the roll out of a new reservation system in Asia which was distributed successfully through local offices to company's clients.
• Facilitated a training program for local staff from 3 offices using head-office trainers which led to an improvement in performance and staff retainment.
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Israeli Tourism Office
August 1995 - June 1996
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Country Representative
National Tourism Office representative in Taiwan, responsible for promoting tourism to Israel, working with industry and media.
• Increased tourist arrivals from Taiwan to Israel by 1000%.
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