Chinese becomes the official language of UNWTO; "Chinese+" development goes further

Recently, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Spanish government officially declared that Chinese has officially become the official language of UNWTO since January 25, 2021. UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili made a special video to express his congratulations.

With the development of tourism in China and abroad, tourism practitioners in many countries have long recognized the importance of mastering the Chinese language, and the demand for Chinese language learning is increasing day by day. In response, Chinese language teaching institutions in various countries are offering a variety of "Chinese + Tourism" courses and training to meet the growing demand for learning Chinese.

Chinese Officially Becomes the Language of the United Nations World Tourism Organization

UNWTO is the world's most influential intergovernmental international tourism organization, with 159 member countries and its headquarters in Madrid, Spain. In November 2007, at the 17th session of the UNWTO General Assembly, China proposed that Chinese be included as an official language of the organization. The General Assembly adopted the Chinese proposal and passed the amendment to Article 38 of the UNWTO Constitution, namely "The official languages of the organization shall be Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish."

According to the UNWTO Constitution, the amendment must be ratified by two-thirds of the Member States before it enters into force after it is accepted by the General Assembly. Since the pass of the amendment in 2007, China, together with the UNWTO, has done a lot of work to promote the ratification process by member countries at fast speed and to facilitate the practical use of Chinese as an official language in the UNWTO. In January 2021, the number of ratifications reached 106, which is the legal number, and the amendment came into force finally.

Chinese becoming an official language of the UNWTO raises the status and proportion of Chinese language use in international organizations, which is conducive to China's better sharing of experience and opportunities in the development of China's tourism industry and making positive contributions to the cultural and educational exchanges between China and foreign countries and the promotion of building a community with shared future for mankind.

Tourism Practitioners are Actively Learning Chinese, and the Demand for "Chinese + Tourism" is Active

In fact, the vigorous Chinese tourism market has long attracted the attention of various countries. Although international tourism has not yet fully recovered due to the epidemic, tourism workers in many countries have already started to actively engage in Chinese language learning, expecting to be of use when Chinese tourists return.

Shining Rainbow, a tourism practitioner in NSW, Australia, said she had tried to learn Spanish, but recently decided to start teaching herself Chinese. "I've only just started with Chinese and find the tones can be difficult to master, but I know it's been a very rewarding thing to do."

Lisa Miller, founding president of the local Queensland Chinese Language Teachers Association, believes that the recovery from the epidemic will see a dramatic change in the way that Chinese people travel. She says tour operators need to get Chinese tourists attracted before they return, and "the Australian tourism industry lacks linguistic and cultural talents to communicate with Chinese tourists."

"It would be very helpful if agencies could demonstrate to Chinese tourists that 'our staff have had some Chinese language and cultural training,' "she said. "We can learn more about their culture, learn their language, try to be more polite and greet them in a more welcoming manner. A lot of Australians think Chinese is too difficult; actually, the basic Chinese courtesy phrases are very easy to learn."

An Tran is the owner of a local coffee shop. He says learning and using Chinese will impress Chinese tourists. He estimates that when international tourism takes off again, Chinese tourists will make up half of the customer base. Although they don't have a Chinese menu yet, Tran says they will have one ready soon.

Tran says, "If you're willing to learn a little bit of Chinese, you're more receptive to the culture and you've opened up your mind, so everything goes more smoothly."

Various "Chinese + Tourism" Training Courses to Facilitate Local Development

In order to meet the strong demand for learning, educational institutions in various countries have launched various "Chinese + Tourism" courses and trainings. As early as 2017, the University of Udayana and Hasanuddin University cooperated to establish the first "Chinese Language Training Center for Tourism" in Indonesia.

The Center for Language Education and Cooperation cooperates with Bali's tourism sector, sending international Chinese language teachers to offer Chinese intensive classes and on-the-job training courses in practical tourism for practitioners of travel agencies, hotels, tourism services and management departments that receive Chinese tourists, and strengthen cooperation with Chinese tourism colleges and universities by conducting lectures by experts from both sides, and promoting mutual exchanges of teachers and mutual internships for students.

Ratna, an Indonesian participant, said that her study at the training center has helped her to master a lot of Chinese knowledge, which is very helpful for her work. At the same time, she has also developed a great interest in Chinese and hopes to have the opportunity to visit China in the future.

In Phuket, a famous tourist city in Thailand, the public Chinese language course for tourists is also immensely popular among local students. The training covers "greeting," "numbers," "pick-up," "check-in," "check-out," etc. The training is progressive and diversified to improve students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

Senior student Liu Wanli (Purin Thavarovut) expressed his hope to work at the airport after graduation. With the close cooperation between China and Thailand, and Thailand being the most popular country in Southeast Asia for Chinese tourists, learning Chinese will be of great help to his future development.

In Pokhara, Nepal, a large number of Chinese tourists come to the city every year. At "the Belt and Road Initiatives" training course for tourists in Pokhara, organized by the Nepal Tourism Board, international Chinese language teachers from China taught Chinese language courses to 70 participants in Pokhara. The participants, including local tourism board staff, hotel managers and store owners, will complete 80 hours of Chinese lessons in two months.

The head of Nepal Tourism Board said, "China is a huge market for global tourism, not just for Nepal. Nepal has a lot to offer in terms of attracting tourists, and the basis of attracting tourists is communication. We are lacking in communicating with Chinese tourists and need to strengthen language training urgently."

"In fact, cultural exchange can also be enhanced through language learning. We have been working to strengthen bilateral cultural exchange by promoting tourism in both countries (Nepal and China). " said Mahesh Suwal, who was secretary of Nepal's Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Hari Raj Adhikari, a former member of Nepali House of Representatives, is confident that the Nepalese government will actively promote Chinese language teaching and strengthen cultural exchanges between Nepal and China, "I believe there will be many Nepalese in Pokhara who can speak Chinese, and more Chinese language training will be offered here."

In South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt, France and other places, "Chinese+" vocational training for tourism-related industries such as airports, customs, hotels and restaurants is also in full swing. It is believed that as China's comprehensive national power continues to grow, the international influence of Chinese will also grow.

Source: QQ.com, huanqiu.com, www.cri.cn, Thepaper.cn