苏格兰酒店为迎中国游客出奇招 全球各国将迎来“春节时间”

春节出国游成为过年新时尚，也成为各国旅游行业紧盯的一块“香饽饽”。为了吸引到更多的中国游客，苏格兰敦促酒店员工学普通话，提供热水；意大利出租车开通支付宝付费；泰国机场设中国游客专用通道……全球共迎“中国年”。

Hoteliers in the Scottish Highlands are being urged to learn Mandarin and provide chopsticks to capitalize on growing numbers of Chinese tourists.

有关部门敦促苏格兰高地的酒店经营者学习普通话，并提供筷子，以期从越来越多的中国游客身上获得更多收益。

hotelier [həʊ'telɪeɪ; -ɪə]：n.旅馆老板

The Highlands are becoming increasingly fashionable among China’s burgeoning middle classes and super-rich and the Highland and Islands Enterprise development agency is organizing China Ready workshops to help restaurateurs and businesses to cater for them.

在中国迅速壮大的中产阶级和超级富豪中，苏格兰高地正变得越来越受欢迎，高地和岛屿企业发展局正在组织“为中国服务”研讨会，帮助餐馆和企业迎合中国游客的需求。

burgeoning ['bə:dʒəniŋ]：adj.增长迅速的；生机勃勃的

 

Monica Lee-Macpherson, chairwoman of the Scottish Highlands and Islands and Moray Chinese Association, said B&B owners should provide Pot Noodles and disposable chopsticks in rooms and urged restaurants to create picture menus.

苏格兰高地、岛屿和默里华人会主席莫妮卡·李-麦克弗森说，民宿所有者应该在客房内提供杯装泡面和一次性筷子，并敦促餐馆制作图片菜单。

B&B：Bed and breakfast，简称B&B，是一种酒店、旅店的类型，和民宿相似。

 

Ms Lee-Macpherson, a Chinese-Scot who leads tours of popular destinations, says the Chinese are often frustrated by poor facilities, having to share bathrooms, and a lack of places to buy designer goods.

李-麦克弗森女士是一位华裔苏格兰人，她经常会带旅游团到一些热门目的地旅行，她说，中国人常常会因为设施差、需要共用卫生间和缺少购买品牌商品的场所而感到失望。

“A lot of hotels have Polish, Italian, Spanish or even Japanese speakers, but I don’t know any that have Mandarin speakers,” she told The Times. “They don’t even learn simple phrases like ‘how are you?’, ‘good morning’ or ‘thank you’.”

她告诉《泰晤士报》说：“很多酒店都有讲波兰语、意大利语、西班牙语，甚至日语的服务员，但没有一家酒店有会说普通话的服务员。他们甚至连‘你好’、‘早上好’或‘谢谢’等简单的短语都不学着说。”

She stressed that Scottish businesses would need to adapt if they were to take advantage of Chinese tourists’ desire to spend money while on holiday.

她强调指出，如果苏格兰的商家想要利用好中国游客假期出行的商机，就要适应他们的习惯，做出改变。

She told The Times that the Chinese want to buy Scottish souvenirs to commemorate their visit.

她告诉《泰晤士报》说，中国游客想要买一些纪念品，来纪念苏格兰之行。

However, on examining merchandise in the shops, the Chinese visitors are often disappointed to find the dreaded three words: 'Made in China.'

但在商店浏览商品时，中国游客却总是失望地发现“中国制造”这几个字。

她说：“当地产品对中国游客非常重要。但他们到了毛纺厂，拿起格子呢围巾，商标上却写着‘中国制造’。他们想要真正的苏格兰羊毛产品。”

 On the rooftop of the National Museum of Scotland, a mythical unicorn lantern lite up the early morning sky alongside a Chinese dragon to mark the launch of the Chinese New Year Edinburgh festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

 

She said: “We think too much about Europeans, but how often do you see a European visitor go and buy four cashmere jumpers without even batting an eyelid? Chinese people have new found wealth and will spend that money.”

她说：“我们对欧洲人太重视了，但你有多少次能看到一个欧洲游客会一口气买下4件羊绒套头针织衫，连眼皮都不抬一下？中国游客越来越富有，也会消费。”

Lee-Macpherson added that shops should stay open later to make the most of visitors’ deep pockets, as they have told her: “Your shops close at 5pm or 6pm, so after we have had our dinner there are no places for us to spend our money.”

她还补充说，商店应该晚一些再关门，以便于游客消费。中国游客曾经对她说：“你们的商店下午5点或6点就关门了，所以我们吃完晚饭后就没有地方可以购物了。”

More simple things can be instigated by hotels and restaurants, according to Graeme Ambrose, who runs Visit Inverness Loch Ness.

因弗内斯郡尼斯湖旅游公司经理格雷姆·安布罗斯说，还有一些简单的事情，酒店和饭店应该做到。

These include ensuring there are twin beds, which are more popular for Chinese guests, and providing lukewarm rather than cold water.

这包括确保房间里有两张单人床，这在中国游客当中更受欢迎，还要提供热水而不是冷水。

他说：“他们喜欢自拍，所以安排一些能到达一个高点拍照的短途步行线路对他们来说是件大事。”

“Another thing businesses will have to get used to is that Chinese people expect to be able to pay for things using apps on their phones,” he said.

他说：“商家需要习惯的另一件事情是，中国人希望能够通过手机应用为自己买的东西付款。”

 China's mobile wallet Alipay continues to tap its business to increase its international acceptance network. [Photo/IC]

 

目前，中国游客可以在全球40个国家使用支付宝移动支付。欧洲比斯特购物村旗下热门商户开通支付宝并配备中文店员；法国春天百货为中国游客单独提供店内手机退税服务；英国伦敦部分餐馆推出了支付宝扫码点餐……

“These are affluent people with a lot of money to spend and the challenge is to recognize what their likes and dislikes are so they get the best possible experience when they are here.”

他说：“这些人很富裕，有很多钱可以花，我们面临的挑战是要认识到他们的好恶，让他们在这里获得最佳体验。”

Scotland attracted 62,000 Chinese visitors in 2017, who spent £44m in total, according to Visit Scotland.

苏格兰旅游局的数据显示，2017年，共有6.2万中国游客到苏格兰旅游，总共花费4400万英镑（约合3.9亿元人民币）。

 中国游客在澳大利亚悉尼的景点使用支付宝购买门票。许康平 摄（人民图片）

 

春节假期出国旅游已经成为不少人的选择，为了吸引中国游客，各国纷纷出奇招。

 

意大利&韩国首尔：打车可刷支付宝

意大利10余个旅游城市8000辆出租车开始支持支付宝付费。

据了解，开通支付宝服务的出租车属于意大利电召出租车联盟，覆盖城市包括罗马、米兰、布雷西亚、热那亚、佛罗伦萨、比萨等。

电召出租车联盟主席比塔雷利表示，此举将为公司出租车司机带来更多生意。同时，支付宝付费方式会让赴意旅游的中国游客更加满意。

 泰国旅游部门举行仪式欢迎2018年到泰国的第1000万名中国游客，庆贺中国游客人数创历史新高。新华社记者 张可任 摄

在2018年10月，首尔市政府表示，自2019年1月起首尔市7万余辆出租车将支持二维码支付，为此已制定相关标准。

Alipay, the world's largest online and mobile payment platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, can be used by Chinese tourists to pay for taxis in Seoul via strategic partner kakaopay, which acts as system integrator. In the near future, local users will also be able to pay taxi fare via kakaopay.

中国游客将可通过支付宝的战略合作伙伴kakaopay集成的系统，使用支付宝支付出租车费用。支付宝是蚂蚁金服旗下的全球最大的在线及移动支付平台。在不久的将来，韩国消费者同样可以通过kakaopay支付当地出租车费。

Earlier, Alipay enabled its payment service for taxis in the Pyeongchang and Gangneung areas, where the Winter Olympics were hosted in February.

早在2018年2月，冬奥会举办地韩国平昌和江陵地区的出租车就已开始接受支付宝支付。

泰国：落地签免费措施延期

泰国免落地签证费措施延长至今年4月30日。如果这一政策顺利实施，对春节假期出游的旅客有利。

该政策免收落地签证费用2000泰铢，按照近期人民币汇率折算，在泰国办理落地签，每人每次可节省近420元。

 The Thai government expects the extension to benefit foreign tourists, especially tourists from China.[Photo/Xinhua]

 

Thailand's Royal Gazette has announced to extend the waiver on visa-on-arrival fee for nationals of particular countries until the end of April to boost tourism.

《泰国皇家公报》宣布，为促进旅游业发展，对一些国家的游客免除落地签证费的政策将延长到4月底。

The waiver on the 2,000-baht visa-on-arrival fee for nationals for 20 counties, including China, was set end on January 13. It started on last November.

这项免除落地签证费的政策从去年11月开始实施，原本至2019年1月13日为止，对包括中国在内的20个国家的外籍旅客免除落地签证费2000铢。

The Thai government expects the extension to benefit foreign tourists, especially tourists from China, and draw them to Thailand during the Chinese New Year in early February and the water splashing festival in the middle of April.

泰国政府希望这一政策的延期能惠及外国游客，特别是来自中国的游客，吸引他们在2月初中国春节期间和4月中旬泰国泼水节期间去泰国旅游。

泰国移民局还对机场海关工作做出了调整，春节期间将开放16个旅行证件审核窗口，并设中国游客专用通道，承诺进入落地签大厅后的等候时间不超过30分钟，柜台办理时间不超过3分钟。

移民局还专门对机场海关工作人员进行了中文培训，机场内的引导标识及公告牌均添加中文注释。

日本：旅游签证进一步简化

日本旅游签证将于2019年1月4日起进一步简化，预计中国游客春节期间赴日赏雪、泡温泉、赏早樱将再度迎来小高峰。