More and more inbound tourists intend to experience the local and unique culture, food, and daily lives instead of a cursory glance at the scenery. In Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Xi’an, Chengdu, and other international tourism cities, a new way of inbound tourism called “booking tour guide online” has become popular, making the multilingual guide in popular destinations an in-demand profession.
The comment shows that overseas visitors prefer booking tour guides online in China.
Guide for overseas tourists transfer to the internet
On Ctrip alone, there are nearly 10,000 local guides in over a hundred countries, serving Chinese people traveling at home and abroad. Among them, more than 300 multilingual guides are in China, speaking English, Japanese, Russian, Korean, French, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, Thai, and others. Most of them have already set up studios to provide various services to satisfy customers’ different requirements.
Only by screening via personal signatures and product titles, or submitting the specific requirements with language demand directly can users be accurately matched with guides. They generally communicate through the Instant Messaging system of the platform and then place an order. The use rate of instant messaging is 90%, among foreigners coming to new places.
Besides, most multilingual guides are based in popular tourism cities for foreigners, such as the first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, provincial capitals, South China, and Southwest China. Here are the top 10 cities with the most significant numbers of multilingual guides: Chengdu, Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Chongqing, Zhangye, Sanya, Guilin, Xining, and Shenyang.
“The one-to-one guide, high-quality foreign language presentation, travel design, and customized
service will improve foreign tourists’ experience while traveling in China. We also offer high-quality solutions for independent travel with unique plans for them to China,” according to one director of Ctrip’s local guide platform. Foreign tourists can tell their Chinese guides where they want to go and what they want to have, and the plan will be appropriately adjusted if the requirements are reasonable.
Chongqing is the sixth most popular city
According to the orders for the fourth quarter, Ctrip witnessed the ordering peak of multilingual guides, more than 50% higher than that of the third quarter. Among them, Xiamen celebrates the fastest growth rate, which is 570%. Hulun Buir, Nanning, Zhangye, and Guiyang appear as dark horses.
From the data of multilingual guides, in China, Xi’an in Shaanxi proudly has excellent popularity, and Chengdu, Xining, Beijing, Guilin, Chongqing, Shanghai, Hulun Buir, Sanya, and Guangzhou come next. Besides, the data also indicates that foreign tourists prefer China’s history and culture and its unique natural landscape. Delicacies, buildings, art wares, and folk-custom are also their highlights.
With more and more tourists to China, especially during the China International Import Expo (CIIE), multilingual guides are more widely welcomed than ever. Some data shows that during the CIIE, the orders for destination guides continued to rise. Zhai Lijuan, a Shanghai-based guide who has served inbound tourists for years, introduced that “Foreign guests are impressed by China’s history and culture, as well as its achievements in economy and other aspects in recent years.”
After traveling in China, some tourists will post their feedback on related pages, and many of them will recommend the guides by saying, “Welcome to China and book this guide.”
Source: Shangyou News