Chinese tourism officials, who earlier this year announced a “Black Book” of names of those Chinese travelers who were engaged in bad behavior back home, have now issued a new publication explaining how those who travel to the USA can be nice … and popular in the United States.

Specifically, late last month the China National Tourist Office (CNTO) in New York began making available the 125-page book, “How to be a Popular Traveler in the USA,” which explains some of the “do’s and don’ts” while visiting America. Some examples of what not to do:

—Sneezing or picking your teeth without covering your mouth.

—Yelling at a waiter or waitress.

—Blocking other people when you are on an escalator.

—Swearing at others in public.

The book had an initial print run of 5,000. It is being distributed free through the Chinese Consulate General in New York and NYC-based travel companies that bring tourists from China.

“With the increase in cultural exchange, more conflicts between tourists and locals are observed has been noted,” says the book’s preface. “Travelers from each respective might have a lack of knowledge about each other’s and local religion, lifestyle, customs, laws and regulations. In the United States especially, misunderstandings from Chinese travelers could come across as inappropriate or offensive.”

Pan Xiaopeng, deputy director of CNTO in New York, said that the book with five chapters covers every aspect of a trip to the US: destinations, people, culture and religion, local customs, transportation, food, medical services, safety and security.

One chapter—“Good Manners for Chinese Visitors—highlights common improper behavior exhibited by Chinese tourists and the possible reasons for each is analyzed and explored. It “encourages Chinese visitors to raise awareness of specific Western ideologies with the intention of minimizing and ceasing improper behaviors.”

For additional information on contacting the CNTO office in either New York or Los Angeles, click on http://www.cnto.org/contact-cnto/.

Start-ups Can’t Survive vs. Giant Ctrip: Despite the deep pockets of venture capitalists willing to get behind them, start-up travel companies in China are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to stand up to the giant in the market—Ctrip.

According to an item last week in ChinaMoneyNetwork.com, venture capitalists have invested around $500 million in the Chinese travel sector during the past two years; this figure is from information provided by data tracker IT Juzi. In 2014, there were a total of 129 investment deals in the online travel segment, with 66 deals in the seed and angel round.

Several factors have contributed to the failure of travel startups in China, the article suggests, but no factor plays as large a role in this development as does Ctrip. Some cases follow:

—Tao.117go.com, branded as Taozailushang in Chinese, an online customized travel package platform with backing from Alibaba Group Holdings, Redpoint Ventures, Softbank Corp. and New Horizon Capital, has confirmed that it is currently going through liquidation.

—Maidou Travel, a start-up providing overseas leisure travel packages, has folded.

—Weekend get-away trip provider Where To Go On Weekends has shut down operations.

—Last-minute travel package start-up Ailvxing is no longer in business.

—Ailvxing’s one-time rival Lailaihui is cutting staff and fighting for survival.

Here’s What Happens: In the case of one of the aforementioned shutdowns, when Zhang Wenlong established Where To Go On Weekends in 2014, his plan was to zero in on weekend get-away travel products, a fragmented area with relatively low Internet penetration. Ctrip, however, had the same notion. Since last year, the company has made massive investments in one-day trips and local get-away packages. After Ctrip acquired Qunar in October 2015, it formally established a local travel business unit.

In another instance, Woqu.com, a start-up focused on high-end overseas travel packages, experienced another way to be defeated by Ctrip. After attracting two rounds of venture funding with Tencent Holding Ltd. as an investor, Woqu.com partnered with Ctrip by providing its tour packages on Ctrip’s platforms as a third-party supplier. Similarly, as Ctrip decided to expand its own overseas tour package offerings last year, it began giving its own products preferential treatment in search and guided traffic flows. Woqu.com soon realized that it wasn’t able to generate enough traffic on its own to survive.

Aside from bad timing, the article speculates, Chinese travel start-ups believe their failure may be partially attributable to a speculative mindset, or the so-called “2VC” model, meaning that founders started companies with the sole purpose of raising venture capital money, which is used to acquire users and then to raise more money, without a solid business model or innovative technology.

For example, the founders of Maidou Travel reportedly gleaned information on which public account venture capitalists followed the most on WeChat. They then bought advertising dressed as real content on these WeChat accounts to gain investor attention and eventually venture funding. While the ChinaMoneyNetwork concedes that the 2VC model is prevalent among Chinese start-ups across all sectors, the difference is that travel start-ups have awakened earlier than others to the problems of not having a sustainable business plan.

On the other hand, Ctrip has been steadily buying competitors and/or investing in smaller competitors. Last year, the online travel giant acquired a large stake in eLong, announced the Ctrip-Qunar deal, and invested in many smaller companies.

“As a result,” the article states, “Ctrip is now the absolute monopolistic force in online travel in China. One anonymous analyst jokingly describes it as holding a 100 percent market share, as the company does not disclose its market position for fear of attracting regulatory attention—although numbers gleaned from its annual report are telling evidence of its dominance.  For the first quarter of 2016, Ctrip reported total revenues of $682 million, an 80 percent increase year-on-year primarily due to the Qunar deal.”

Ctrip’s scale makes it almost impossible for any start-up to compete, no matter where the battle ground lies. For instance, Ctrip would pay millions of yen to book all the rooms in a resort during weekends, in effect cutting any competitors off, says Huang Zhiwen, the founder of Where To Go On Weekends. “There are still lots of inefficiencies in travel such as hotel marketing and local tours,” he says. “But there is no chance that anyone can create another travel platform.”

“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me,” wrote the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in a 1925 short story, Rich Boy, adding “They possess and enjoy early.”  Some 90 years after its publication in the then-popular magazine, Red Book, rich Chinese Millennials seem determined to prove Fitzgerald right.

 Hurun, the firm that follows and reports on wealthy Chinese, has just issued its “Chinese Luxury Traveler 2016” report, which focuses on the dimensions and preferences of wealthy Chinese Millennials (those aged 18 to 36). After surveying 525 respondents in this demographic who have an average personal wealth of 38,770,000 yuan ($5.8 million), the study found that this group is expected to seek an increasingly diverse range of travel experiences in the coming years. Just as important, the Hurun found that the USA is one of the top five in the list of favorite travel destinations of these travelers.

Some points highlighted in the report on wealthy Millennials include the following:

—Their top reason for traveling in the past year was “leisure” (82 percent).

—The next most cited reason was “exploring the world” (40 percent).

—International trips are predicted to rise by 25 percent over the next three years, while “adventure,” “polar expedition,” and “road trip” travel will increase by 52 percent, 38 percent, and 75 percent, respectively, during this time.

(

—Even with the popularity of the above, wealthy Millennials are still highly interested in embarking on shopping-filled luxury leisure trips to Paris and Tokyo, taking one every three to four months.

—They spend about $65,000 a year on travel and budget around $34,000 on travel shopping.

—A total of 61 percent of respondents had been to Europe in the past year and 65 percent plan to visit within the next three years.

—Japan was their most-visited location during Chinese New Year this year, and survey respondents also listed it as their most “memorable” destination of 2015.

—A total of 42 percent of respondents say personalized service is the biggest area of consideration when choosing a hotel.

—41 percent listed room cleanliness.

—They prefer hotel brands featuring “art and design that make the travel experience feel unique and fun,” while demanding

—They want high-tech digital equipment available, including WiFi (73 percent) and smart TVs (55 percent).

—WeChat accounts nearly half (48 percent) of travel researching by rich Millennials, while word-of-mouth through WeChat friends accounts for 47 percent,

42 percent of the group use Chinese travel booking sites—the three most popular are Ctrip, Qunar, and Tuniu.

—Those choosing to use travel agency when booking a trip still demand an individualistic touch, as a total of 70 percent of respondents listed “personalized service” as their number one criteria for choosing a travel agency, followed by expertise (57 percent) and itinerary planning (54 percent).