From no entry to pet friendly, the development of pet industry in China

Date: 2020-05-28 Compiler:

Many people would like to take their pet with them when they go out. In shanghai, searching for pet-friendly shops via Dianping app (an app that is similar with trip advisor), pet vet, pet shops, cat and dog cafes, other pet-friendly stores would specifically mark pet friendly or pets allowed. Public places declaring pet-friendly are marked with outstanding pet-friendly signs.

Mr. Siyan Yu, deputy director of the Municipal People's Congress and deputy curator of the Jinshan District Museum (Shanghai), suggested that some pet-friendly scenic spots, hotels, and shopping malls to be created to facilitate travelers and their pets, promote Shanghai to become a pet-friendly city.

Taking Booking.com data as an example, among 11,817 accommodations in China, 1201 were allowed to bring pets, accounting for about 10.2%. Take Rosewood Hotel Beijing as an example, the hotel provides pet accommodation for travelers. In addition to basic accommodations, the hotel also provides professional pet grooming, daily dog-walking service, free pet food, and pet grooming service.

In pet friendly Starbucks in China, there is special pet resting area outside the coffee shop. In this area, there are exclusive seats for pet and their owners, equipped with bin and gloves. There is also a special menu for pets free of charge.

Last weekend, one of China’s animal-assisted therapy (AAT) programs with only 20% overall pass rate was held in Shanghai. Since its launch in 2012, the organizer of ATT, Paw for Heal has certified around 80 therapy dogs volunteering at some 30 nursing homes and autism organizations nationwide. Founder Mr. Qi Wu has stated that to reach the level of therapy dog training internationally, he was collaborating with the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to introduce scientific research on AAT to his program in China. “Through learning from the European team, China may shorten the time to catch up with Western countries in this field by several decades,” he said. Earlier this year, Jiaqi Li — arguably China’s most famous commercial livestreamer — sent his own dogs to Wu’s training center in Shanghai, and broadcast parts of the training on microblogging platform Weibo beginning in April. In the weeks since, over 1,000 dog owners have signed up for Paw for Heal — more animals than the organization normally receives in a year, according to Wu.In recent years, the concept of pet friendly has gradually gained popularity. Moreover, pet-friendly places have become less difficult to find, but such places also need the cooperation and understanding of pet owners to maintain a good environment and enhance people's acceptance of pets. If the owner can restrain the pets well, without causing trouble to the merchants and other shoppers, there will naturally be more restaurants joining the pet friendly club. There is still a long way to go for pet friendly in China, but the future is bright.

CIPS, as the only b2b pet show in Asia, will lead the China pet industry to healthy development. CIPS believes that pet-friendly can form an industrial chain. By advancing pet-friendly facilities and services, it can greatly attract pet lovers to consume and will form a growth point for emerging economies.