Heathrow launches on Weibo as inbound tourism from China continues to rise

UK. Heathrow Airport has launched its presence on Chinese social media platform Weibo, in what it said was a first for UK airports.

Weibo is a microblogging website known as the ‘Chinese Twitter’ and is used by more than 600 million people worldwide. It allows users to post real-time messages of up to 140 Chinese characters.

Heathrow said its presence on Weibo would both promote UK tourism and act as a customer service tool, providing Chinese passengers with real-time information about their airport journey. It also complements Heathrow’s existing WeChat account which enables one-to-one conversations between passengers and a dedicated airport team.

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The airport also noted that an estimated 91% of Weibo users interact with the platform on mobile devices, meaning it was ideally suited to travelling Chinese passengers.

Heathrow Airport Head of Passenger Communications Marc Ellams said: “We are constantly evolving the way we engage with customers and with inbound tourism from China continuing to rise, having a presence on Weibo is critical if we want to provide the best possible service to our passengers.”

The airport has already successfully implemented a social media presence on platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Earlier this year, Heathrow was victorious in three categories at ‘The Moodies’, the 2015 airport digital, mobile and social media awards. It picked up the awards for ‘Best Twitter Feed – Airport’, ‘Best Travel Retail Instagram Feed’ and ‘Best Use of Social Media – Airport’.

Heathrow said social media had changed the way customers sought advice, assistance or travel inspiration from the airport. The airport’s Twitter account currently holds the record for the number of followers of an airport, with 380,000 users subscribed to Heathrow’s feed.

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