Born in England, raised in New Zealand, educated in France, and later employed in Japan, China and the Philippines, 45-year old Hudson has 21 years of rich experience in hospitality industry and is an expert in English, and he is interested in French, Japanese, and Mandarin. He loves Chinese culture so much that in his half year so far here in Sanya, he has even begun speaking the basics of Hainan hua – Hainan’s native dialect.
When asked about what he thinks of Sanya, his eyes lit up. “Sanya is an amazing tropical destination, filled with natural splendor, bright sunshine and of course, some of the best beaches on the planet. If possible, the longer I stay in Sanya the better!”
Blissful family move stay in Sanya
Hudson’s first stint in China came in 1999, when he worked in Marriott Hotel Shenyang, and after four years of Dongbei living he then moved to the Philippines as General Manager of Cebu City Marriott. Now, another four years later, he is the visionary and leader of this beautiful paradise called the Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa.
Comparing Shenyang and Sanya (one being in the north and the other in the south, respectively), he says he is amazed by how different the cultures and local features are between the two cities. “Shenyang is the heavy industry base of China, it was nothing but work there. On the other hand, Sanya is a tourism city. It’s rather a form of leisure than work here.” In just half a year, he has fallen completely in love with this beautiful city.
Moreover, Hudson recently became a proud father of a baby girl and looks very much happy. “Now my daughter is 4-weeks old, and in her 5th week, she’ll come to Sanya with her mother,” he said while counting his fingers.
He said his daughter is still quite young, so he is not worried about education as of yet. But as time goes by, education will be a challenge for foreigners like him. If international schools, medical institutes and living establishments for foreigners are established in the near future however, he said that he will decide to raise his daughter in beautiful Hainan Island instead of sending her home to New Zealand.
Looking at this foreigner counting his fingers and talking to me so openly, I almost forgot I was interviewing a 5-star resort’s General Manager!
On government tourism promotion
In early October, the Sanya City Government sent a team to the “2007 Moscow Autumn Tourism Exhibition” in Russia with the goal of promoting Sanya as one of the world’s premier tourist destinations. Hudson attended this exhibition as a representative of Sanya Marriott Resort & Spa. He went as a general manager of an international hotel group; a foreigner, wearing the local holiday clothing of Hainan, speaking English and Chinese, and recommending Sanya earnestly to every tourist at the exhibition booth.
I told him that I was touched by such behavior, and he happily replied in Chinese: “Thank you, it’s our job. These kinds of activities are great. The government pays the bill to grant hotels a chance to promote themselves. Through the exhibition’s activities, our customers made reservations straight from the spot. Its effectiveness was really amazing.”
Hudson believes that cooperating with the government is not only an important strategy but indeed a true necessity. “The government is advertising Sanya as a whole, the effect of such holistic brand promotion cannot be reached by a single company. Only when Hainan and Sanya are well developed will the tourism enterprises in Sanya get more of a developing chance. As an enterprise, we will not only follow the actions of our government, we will also continue to seek out more opportunities for cooperation in the future.”
Looking for Sanya’s local features, starting with “Hainan Chicken Rice”
Hudson is particularly passionate about local food, especially Hainan Chicken Rice. He even said that in the international market this delicacy’s fame exceeds Hainan itself. Many foreign tourists come to spend their holidays in Hainan to go to different restaurants and taste a variety of Hainan Chicken, all the while trying to find out which particular one stands out above the rest.
Hudson believes it’s a good point to push for promotional activities like “Looking for the Best ‘Hainan Chicken Rice’”, where people get to vote for the top 20 best restaurants recommended by hotel associations and experts. This, in effect, would not only promote Hainan’s local specialties and improve on their quality; it would also make decision-making a whole lot easier for customers.
“Welcome to the Sanya of the United States” should be heard in Hawaii
“Yalong Bay’s layout and orientation is particularly beautiful”, says Hudson. “It’s not like some other holiday are as where the level of hotels varies a lot. The hotels in Yalong Bay are all over four stars and a cluster of famous international brands can even be found.
Coupled with future developments for medical, entertainment, food and beverage, and other modern facilities, the concept of a top-grade holiday area would be much clearer and it should be a great advantage in terms of Yalong Bay’s long term development.”
Hudson is full of confidence and expects a lot of future developments in Sanya. “The whole nature of Sanya is very special. The more important thing is that Sanya still has a lot of resources that haven’t been developed yet. So why do we say that Sanya is ‘China’s Hawaii’? Maybe we should hear people say ‘Welcome to the Sanya of the United States’ in Hawaii”. |
