In May 2023, during my first visit to China after the pandemic, I was astonished by the development of Xi’an. “How Has Covid Changed China” chronicles the transformation of this previously unkempt city into a more modern metropolis of gleaming towers and high-tech zones interconnected by elevated expressways, metro lines and buses set on a canopy of lake-centred parks and green spaces. It was like time-traveling from 1980 to 2025 in the space of four years.  » Read more »

4 years ago I co-founded Imperial Tours, an inbound luxury tour operator in Beijing, where I lived for 20 years. As a result of the Covid pandemic, I was trapped outside China from November 2019 until three weeks ago when I returned for the first time in over three years. This article describes the changes I found on reopening China’s travel industry. The Rise of “Genuine” Boutique Hotels When China first opened to the travel industry in the 1980’s,  » Read more »

Scott Kronick left home comforts to set up Ogilvy & Mather’s office in China over twenty years ago. Since then he has advised the world’s leading multinationals at the highest commercial and political levels and now leads an organization of 300 across 6 offices. A new expert on Imperial Tours’ roster, we asked him for his inside view of China. Imperial Tours (IT): We all know there are many misperceptions and inaccurate myths about China.   » Read more »

Whilst travel companies typically extol monuments of the past, China’s attractiveness as a destination extends to its impact on our children’s future. For the past few months we have been looking into the folds and contours of China’s evolving landscape. Previously we looked at the revolution in smart phone apps and payment systems, at leapfrogging technologies in retail and at the development of Artificial Intelligence.

The Retail Revolution China has fast become the holy grail of shopping. Be it high-end or low-end, costly or counterfeit, China is the place where you can find just about everything. In the last decade, the biggest manufacturer in the world has developed the largest consumer base globally. This large population of freshly minted consumers has caused luxury retailers to scramble for a piece of the pie, or should we say, cookie? While sold out Louis Vuitton shops and limits on how many Rolex’s one customer is allowed to buy have been picked up by Western media,  » Read more »