Finnair sales director Mikko Rautio. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The store has been looking at ways of luring Chinese tourists through advertising campaigns in Chinese media, teaming up with tax refund service Global Blue, and by helping to organize transportation for Chinese visitors in London.

"From a financial perspective there was a huge incentive to start attracting Chinese customers. Statistics from June show that we'd had a 237 percent increase in international tourists coming to the village, of which many were Chinese.

"In China there are so many counterfeit operations that those who do have money often don't trust their own retailers to be selling the 'Real McCoy'. We've had customers from China buying up to 10 or 20 pairs of shoes at one time. Back in China a pair of Clarks shoes can cost upwards of 200 pounds but here you are probably talking 40 or 50 pounds," says Turner.

"That is a significant difference in price and Chinese tourists will calculate that back on their airfare. Now Clarks village is seen, up against the likes of Harrods, as one of the top 10 Chinese attractions in the UK."

Clark's village in Somerset is one of a number of unexpected tourist destinations across the continent that is tapping into this new market of Chinese tourists. Trier in Germany, birthplace of Karl Marx, sees around 13,000 Chinese tourists a year visit the Karl-Marx-Haus museum.

Montargis, a small town in central France, is also popular for historical reasons - many of those involved in the early foundations of the Communist Party of China spent time there during the 1910s. Such China-specific tourist sites are a reminder to Europe's travel industry that they must adapt to better serve Chinese tourists.

Nick Haley, co-founder and director of Danos & Haley, a travel company that provides bespoke tours of the United Kingdom to Chinese clients, appreciates the need for this customized approach.

"Prior to establishing our business we determined that Chinese tourists have not always had the best experience in the UK," says Haley. "In the past they have tended to be offered tours showing 'the best of the UK' without really thinking how relevant it is to Chinese visitors from a cultural point of view.

"Our clients want to gain a strong understanding of British society, so rather than going to a tourist attraction and doing the fairly mundane things people have done in the past, we provide VIP hospitality to give our guests the opportunity to mix and mingle with prominent members of business and society."

The hope is that such a personalized approach to Europe's Chinese visitors will not only keep them happy, but, as Latham is so keen to stress, encourage them to spread the word back home.

Travis Qian, manager of VisitBritain's operations on the mainland and Hong Kong. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"Increasingly outbound tourist satisfaction in China is important because one of the driving factors pushing forward tourism is word of mouth. Increase tourist satisfaction and more people will be telling their friends, relatives and even strangers online that Europe is a good place to go to.

"Europe has to innovate and adapt as well as being proactive. If the European tourist industry just assumes that more and more Chinese tourists are going to come to Europe they are likely to get left behind. If you want to really exploit the potential of that market then more innovation and adaptation needs to be introduced."