Tallink was the winner of the Global GOLD award in the CTW Chinese Tourist Welcome Awards in the category: Best Product Innovation. The win thereby announced Tallink Grupp's major investments in improving the quality of service offered to Chinese tourists on board Tallink and Silja Line's ships. The award is strongly recognized within and outside of China as the most important quality seal for outbound travel in the Chinese market.

– ”The number of Chinese and Asian tourists travelling on board Tallink and Silja Line ships has increased significantly in recent years, and as the largest shipping company in the Baltic Sea, we have therefore adapted our services so that we can offer Asian customers the types of services and comfort they are used to,” says Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp.

– ”It is a great recognition and a pleasant surprise for all our staff that the Tallink brand has received such a prestigious award in the world's fastest growing tourism market for the second time, and this time has been awarded a gold level,” continues Nõgene,

According to Nõgene, Tallink has continuously invested in developing services aimed at meeting the needs of all its customers, including those from China and other Asian countries, on all its routes. It is these specific investments and efforts that have now been recognized with the CTW award.

– ”For example, we have Chinese-speaking customer service hosts and hostesses on our cruise ships from Sweden and Finland during the high season, as well as on our Helsinki – Tallinn route. In addition, we celebrate the Chinese New Year season, while having restaurant menus, shopping catalogues and other information material available in Chinese, Korean and Japanese,” says Paavo Nõgene, CEO of Tallink Grupp.

– ”We take Asian customers” preferences into account when selecting products for our onboard stores and also offer customer support in Mandarin, both in the form of a Mandarin-language website and on social media such as WeChat and Weibo,” continues Nõgene.

For the 15th time, the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) is presenting the Tourism Benefit Award, this year in five different categories: Product Innovation, Marketing, Service Quality, Internet/Media and Overall Performance. The awards were announced at China's largest B2B tourism trade fair, ITB China in Shanghai.