Peter Lisbygd came to China in 2004 with significantly larger holes in his safety net than most traditional expats. All the Dane had on him was wanderlust and his expertise in the travel industry.
Three years later, the 37-year-old has succeeded in establishing China Experience, a thriving travel consultancy with five employees and a considerable cash flow.
"To be honest, the beginning was very tough, because I worked even longer hours than I do now and could not pull out a salary during the first year," Lisbygd says. "But stubbornness made me keep on, and now I have a team of young Chinese employees with a drive unparalleled to that of the youth of my native country."
Sitting in his stylish office overlooking one of the hip areas in Shanghai's French Concession, the tall Dane is all humbleness as he explains how he turned his passion for outdoor adventure and sports into the challenge of being a foreign entrepreneur in China.
Before deciding to make China their home, Lisbygd and his wife Christina Boutrup, who is a journalist, traveled to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai to get the feel for living conditions in the cities.
On the very last day of their trip, the couple found themselves sitting outdoors at one of Shanghai's French Concession restaurants. For the couple there was no doubt that Shanghai felt like a place they would like to live. Therefore they decided to move to China, hoping for Lisbygd to find use for his expertise in the travel sector, and Boutrup to find a job in journalism.
She soon took up a career as foreign correspondent for a major Danish newspaper, while he started out as Director of Sales at Fuchun Resort in Hangzhou, one of China' most prestigious resorts.
Less than half a year later, Lisbygd realized the enormous potential for high quality service in the Chinese travel sector and eyed the opportunity to put his experience in the international hotel and travel businesses. So with entrepreneurial willpower combined with his background in the industry, Lisbygd set out to open his own travel consultancy, catering to Western travelers.
Initially, his company was one of the first wholly foreign-owned travel companies in China. Since June 2007, the market has opened up.
Before leaping to China, Lisbygd spent four years in Southern Europe, and worked as product director of My Travel Group in Scandinavia. Now his knowledge of what European customers want and need has come to fruition in China's rapidly developing travel industry.
The secret behind the success in China is patience, thoroughness and persistency, according to Lisbygd. "The best way to be successful is to be what the Chinese would call the 'mafan' (troublesome) people."
One of the challenges Lisbygd often faces is convincing European customers that prices can change from one day to the next in modern China.
"Sometimes, airfare to Hainan can jump 40 percent from one season to another, leaving our foreign customers puzzled," says Lisbygd. "Part of what I have learned from the Chinese way of doing things is to pick my flights carefully and always start out early so as to not be cornered in the classic position of the desperate Westerner."
(China Daily September 14, 2007)
