Turkish tour guides taking Chinese course for tourism year

ISTANBUL - Okan Ozkan, a Turkish tour guide, returns to the classroom to get himself ready for the expected arrival of one million Chinese tourists in 2018. Last Thursday, he was learning Chinese with nine other tour guides in a narrow building of the Turkish-Chinese Cultural Association situated at central Istanbul. As was in old school days, they were learning the Chinese language word by word after their teacher.

As a tour guide for 10 years, Ozkan is good at English and Polish. A month ago, he decided to take the Chinese course with a view to improving his career.

Turkey is seeking to attract as many as 1 million Chinese tourists in 2018, as China has declared next year Turkey Tourism Year. While the tourism and other sectors are bracing themselves for the occasion, more and more tour guides are returning to the classrooms.