Make me your Homepage
left corner left corner
China Daily Website

Rafting into a niche market

Updated: 2009-06-29 08:19
By Erik Nilsson and Chen Xiaorong (China Daily)

 Rafting into a niche market

Carmen Winn (in blue helmet), Travis Winn's younger sister, his mother Cindy Appel (in yellow helmet), and Travis Winn's friend Lexi Tuddenham (in black helmet) rafting on the Jinsha River, the westernmost of the major headwater streams of the Yangtze River, in April. File photo

American Travis Winn has been working to keep both his river-conservation NGO and rafting business afloat in China.

And, although he often feels as if he is paddling upstream, his efforts are starting to make headway.

"In China, you can connect conservation, business and tourism in ways inconceivable in other parts of the world," the 25-year-old said.

Winn, who has undertaken 15 of the country's 42 major documented "first descents" (initial river explorations) since exploration began in 1985, became concerned about the proliferation of hydroelectric projects several years ago.

To generate awareness, he co-founded the US-based nonprofit China Rivers Project with compatriot Kristen McDonald in 2007. The organization is financed through the Last Descents River Expeditions company, which Winn had started a year earlier with Chinese partner Na Minghui.

"We try to bring people on the river and let them draw their own conclusions," he said.

He said the company's April expedition was a breakthrough. The trip brought together NGO members, entrepreneurs, international rafting enthusiasts, domestic and international scholars, and ordinary people, including a 12-year-old Chinese girl, whom he said offered some of the "most inspiring quotes".

"It turned out to be almost a floating forum on the river," he said.

"A lot of NGO people have this attitude that nobody else cares about these issues but to have all of these people with different backgrounds on the river, you realize they are all interested in the same thing."

The trick, Winn said, is balancing the roles of his NGO and his business, which function as different sides of the same coin.

"Our friends in the NGO community in China have an increasing amount of scientific knowledge and economic resources but they don't know how to engage the public," Winn said.

That is where Last Descents comes in.

"We're trying to create a combination of conservation and business, so people can know more about rivers and make decisions on what to do with them," Winn said.

"Unless you have a business model that allows for growth, you don't have a way."

Last Descents targets mostly Chinese rafters, rather than international customers, even though foreigners are usually more willing to splash cash for a river ride.

Previously, the group had charged foreigners international rates - about $3,000 to $5,000 - while taking Chinese for free. In April, it charged Chinese participants about half price.

Affordable

Winn said a growing number of Chinese could afford to raft. But because the cost is equivalent to an international trip, the trick is to convince them to spend their money traversing a Chinese river rather than traveling abroad.

"To be effective in conservation, we have to be effective in business,"Winn said.

"So far, we've just sort of been able to scrape by, and it has worked out OK. But if we're looking to turn it into a real, professional product that can grow, then there are a lot of costs associated."

Guides are one of the biggest expenses. Because China's rafting market is virtually nonexistent, the country lacks professionals able to lead expeditions. So the company must fly in overseas guides for every excursion.

Last Descents is now looking to train retired whitewater athletes. Other cost-cutting measures in the pipeline include relocating their office from Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming to a location along the Nu River, where they could run day trips and train guides.

The company also plans to leave its marketing up to tourism agencies.

"We want to avoid a traditional growth model where we spend 100 percent of our time looking for clients," Winn said.

It would mean lower profits but more time to train guides and focus on the domestic market, he explained.

"We're not going to search for foreign clients", although it is an almost surefire way to rake in fast gains, Winn said.

"I'm afraid it'll distract us from the most important thing, which is getting Chinese people on the river."

Winn also said all competitors have left the rivers since the economic downturn, leaving Last Descents with a virtual monopoly, aside from a handful of daytrip operators.

While it is good for his business, Winn believed it was bad for the industry.

"But hopefully things can stay this way long enough for us to chase some of these ideals before having to face the realities of competition."

The upside, he said, is that while the downturn has trimmed the competition, it has not impacted the travel plans of Last Descents' target market.

"It also seems like so many businesses across the world, and more and more in China are taking new approaches to business, trying to create social and environmental good as well as make money," Winn said.

"I see great potential for that with our business, and I feel like if we could create that kind of model, we would really be doing something valuable."

(China Daily 06/29/2009 page1)

8.03K
 
...
Hot Topics
Geng Jiasheng, 54, a national master technician in the manufacturing industry, is busy working on improvements for a new removable environmental protection toilet, a project he has been devoted to since last year.
...
...