Canny new measures boost key industry
In a constantly busy and changing industry like tourism, tour guides and local travel agencies are always scrambling to keep up with the latest trends of what's currently "in" in terms of recreational activities, vacation patterns and tourists' needs. Guilin, a southern Chinese tourism city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, instantly comes to mind when thinking about prominent tourism destinations. The city recently put new measures into effect to support staff in the tourism industry field.
According to statistics released by the Guilin Tour Guide Association, there are currently 12,800 registered tour guides in the city.
The Guilin Tourism Development Committee recently started applying new methods and protocols to improve the local tourism industry, including liability insurance, service fees for tour guides, third-person payment platforms, tax regulations and compensation in the occurrence of disputes.
The committee cooperated with well-known tourism e-commerce providers, such as Ctrip, to pilot the reforming of license mechanisms for tour guides. More than 8,000 freelance tour guides were subsequently granted e-licenses.
Guilin Tourism University, a full-time public tourism undergraduate institution established 32 years ago, has been contributing greatly to the education of tourism professionals by supplying 16,657 graduates to the local tourism industry over the past five years.
The university currently has 11 schools offering 14 undergraduate courses and has been leading its Chinese counterparts in employment rates and the job suitability of its graduates.
Lin Na, Party Chief of the university, stated that in the past five years, the university has taken a positive role in the Belt and Road Initiative. Lin added that it has also cultivated a group of outstanding professionals for the tourism industry among ASEAN member economies and contributed greatly to both the local economy and society.
The university focuses on international communications in its daily teaching. Foreign students from more than 20 countries study alongside Chinese students in the university.
Parallel to this international success, an exchange program was launched with numerous countries and regions around the world, including South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom and Spain. To date, 35 terms of exchange programs have been completed.
It is an affiliate member of the World Tourism Organization, Pacific Asia Travel Association and is the National Training Center for ASEAN tourism professionals designated by the China National Tourism Administration - and has held more than 20 training courses for senior managers in the tourism industry for ASEAN countries including Vietnam and Laos.
Several teaching groups were sent out by the university to Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Laos and Malaysia, and five international training courses were held to supplement local education in tourism, training a large number of tourism managers and business operators as well as tourism guilds.
Liu Menggang, chairman of the Guilin Tour Guide Association said that the tourism industry in the city has experienced enormous development in the past five years.
Guilin is taking a leading position in the Chinese tourism industry, moving from its earliest model focusing simply on natural landscape sightseeing to today's comprehensive tourism businesses such as leisure and vacation, said Liu.
Based on the initiative proposed by the city's Party Chief Zhao Leqin to show off Gulin's cultural value, local authorities are now working on the construction of tourism streets, which are set to highlight local culture. The initiative will not only create the foundation of Guilin's cultural tourism, but it will also upgrade the traditional tourism routes so that visitors can enjoy the city's natural beauty and cultural charm simultaneously.
liyou@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 10/11/2017 page16)
