Roy Graff

Roy has been immersed in Asian business and culture since 1994 and speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese. He launched ChinaContact in 2005 after working in Shanghai and Beijing for three years and focuses his consultancy practice on China’s tourism, hospitality and internet sectors.

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.

Links to further resources:
ChinaContact http://www.chinacontact.org
ChinaContact Network http://chinacontacttourism.ning.com
China Business Services http://www.chinabusinessservices.com
China Advisers Network http://www.china-advisers-network.com
China Tourism Blog http://news.future-of-travel.org

Contact details:

Email: info@ccontact.com

Telephone: +44 (0)20 3239 9688

Skype: ccontact88 twitter: chinacontact

Online profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/roygraff