Representatives of travel companies in the Middle East don't really care about Alipay after all.

All they care about is whether Gu Kun can give real preferential conditions to attract guests from the Middle East in the context of the industry where white guests in Europe and the United States are destined to decline.

I found that there was no oil and water operation space to play in, so I left happily.

Of course, considering that some of their Middle Eastern counterparts have the same positioning and in fact a competitive relationship with performance gambling, they will still pay attention to the effect of Gu Kun's measures in the future. All they care about is the process and cause and effect.

Just look at the results.

Gu Kun has no doubt that Diba's Ipraxin and Abu Dhabi's Mahathir Mohamad will send people to continuously examine the financial performance of the Lan side as a reference system for peer comparison.

After he and the Middle Easterners dispersed, at this cocktail party, there was still a small group of Chinese guests represented by Mr. Yang of CNOOC, as well as the guests from CTS and COSCO brought by him.

"Mr. Gu, when you talked to me just now, are these all true? There is no element to bluff them?" Mr. Yang asked on behalf of others by the way.

Gu Kun smiled and admitted: "I, Gu someone, have said a lie, this little thing, it's not very difficult to do, you are interested, wouldn't it be good to observe it recently-just a few days, I also asked Brother Ma to help me organize a group, and invited a lot of partners who agreed to the financial visa-free conditions to come to Lanfang to have a play, and we will undertake some of the project's treats." ”

Mr. Yang was surprised: "You really take care of this kind of trivial matter yourself? No, the 'Alipay' you mentioned, no matter how great the application prospect is in the future, aren't the current users all a group of domestic Internet café owners?

Gu Kun patted Mr. Yang on the shoulder: "It's true that they're just a group of Internet café owners, but they are also early users." The core of the credit system is to respect seniority and let the world see high returns for early users.

I said something ugly, because it is the cold winter of the Internet, and anyone who dares to enter the market in the cold winter is a warrior, and this kind of person has a great future, and he will not be just an Internet café owner. In the early days, the business with few peers, a few years of profits was enough to expand assets by an order of magnitude, and then launder and go ashore, change careers and do something else, how can you look at these people with a rigid eye.

Mr. Yang listened thoughtfully, and a senior executive of China Travel Service who was traveling with him was inexplicably excited. In the tone of "worship of far-sighted seers", he asked Gu Kun expectantly:

"Mr. Gu, do you really believe that the increase in our Chinese tourists can completely bridge the gap caused by the ebb tide of European and American customers? ”

Gu Kun smiled indifferently: "What is there to be grateful for, I'm just talking business." I still believe that in the high-end tourism market and the luxury consumer market, we can't count on the poor or the rich, but on the people who have been poor for a long time and have just become rich. These talents have enough potential and motivation to spend money on pretending to be coercive and showing off. ”

In fact, it is to count on the nouveau riche, but the word nouveau riche is too ugly to hear, even if the words are not rough, it is not suitable to say it in front of customers.

The two sides talked happily afterwards, and the banquet of the day ended in a bland manner.

Gu Kun fully demonstrated the explosive local tyrant attribute of a small and sparsely populated country that had just become an oil-producing country, and further instilled the impression of "brewing luxury in daily life" into the memories of the guests.

......

The next day, Lan Fang International Airport.

An Airbus A330-200 airliner flying from the north landed slightly awkwardly on the runway.

Of course, Lanfang International Airport can take off and land A330, because Gu Kun's special plane is a luxury customized version of A330-200, and the power and external structure are the same as those of civil aircraft, but the internal structure and decoration of the cabin are different. Gu Kun's special plane can land, and civil aviation can naturally take off and land.

However, most of the usual civil aviation flights use A320 models, mainly because the passenger flow is not large, and the A320 has enough passengers for 150 people each time. The A320 is a short- and medium-haul passenger aircraft, flying routes within 5,000 kilometers, the comprehensive fuel consumption is less than that of the A330, and the cost of the airline is low.

The advantage of the A330 is that the endurance is large, but the price is that the body is bulky, and the proportion of fuel consumption wasted on the weight of the body is much higher than that of the 320 in short range.

In a word, it costs oil.

"With such a fuel-intensive model, how can there be a flight today, and I haven't heard that Mr. Gu's special plane will take off and land today. The airport tower staff complained casually while dealing with the landing.

After all, when the air traffic control bureau reports to the airport, as long as it says the aircraft type, route time, and the unit to which the aircraft belongs, as for what the plane is specifically for, the air traffic control bureau is not obliged to report.

Another tower cadre next to him took advantage of the time when he was not busy, and casually showed: "Xiao Lu, you don't know this, this is a charter flight booked by Mr. Gu to China Travel Service, and today I want to invite a group of guests who enjoy the new financial visa-free treatment for the first time to travel with us." The A320 could not sit down, and it was estimated that there were as many as 300 guests in this group. ”

Xiao Lu was surprised: "Isn't our Lanfang's tourism products always not discounted?

The elderly colleague continued to explain: "It's not that exaggerated, it's just a slight discount, I heard that Mr. Gu invested in an Internet company that paid for the reimbursement of round-trip air tickets to these 300 customers." The rest of all the consumption in Lan is still the original price, and it will not be discounted, and the price will be reduced by China Eastern Airlines. ”

In fact, the mysterious person who paid for the invitation he mentioned was Alipay, which had just been established, and behind it was Lanfang Bank, and the money spent was also invested by Gu Kun. But after all, it is Gu Kun's overseas investment, and the treat will not be discounted.

Gu Kun is very cautious about this kind of thing, and the discount is even more strongly rejected.

While the tower staff were chatting, the plane had come to a standstill, 300 tourists were rushing out along the boarding bridge, and there were 10 brand-new luxury buses waiting to pick up and drop off at the exit of the terminal.

......

Luo Youyi is an Internet café owner from a small city in the western interior, and his business is not big.

Compared with his peers, his biggest advantage may be that there are very few peers in his city and Internet cafes. Most of the businessmen who do similar business are still opening game halls, reluctant to abandon the old game consoles of previous years, and want to use their spare heat to make another profit.

Since the second half of 2000, the country has been blowing the wind in many media to crack down on the game industry, so the game hall business, in 2001, in the first-tier cities has entered the scope of the crackdown, can only be left in the large SHOPPING-MALL, entertainment center to leave a little bit, specializing in game consoles stores can no longer be opened.

But inland and remote cities still need a process, and those who dare to decisively draw a line with the game hall at this time and switch to the Internet café are often brave and courageous. (Although everyone knows that Internet cafes still play games, after all, you can also learn online, and your reputation is much better)

Luo Youyi opened an Internet café within a few months, and caught up with some online game companies and e-commerce companies from other places to promote, although at first glance it looked like a liar, but Luo Youyi, who dared to accept new things, decided to take a gamble after an in-depth understanding and became one of the first users of Alipay's recharge point.

Unexpectedly, today, because of the original decision, I got feedback from the network company and reimbursed the round-trip air ticket.

Although travel is still very expensive, the air ticket represents the company's recognition and honor, even if you grit your teeth, you have to come to Lanfang to take a look.

And at this moment, when he saw that the buses that came to pick up the group were actually wearing Mercedes-Benz logos, he and his companions next to him were instantly shocked.

"Lanfang, this place, it turns out that the buses are all Mercedes-Benz, it's a paradise on earth. ”