Visit Leeds China Forum launches educational workshops
Businesses in Leeds are working hard to be China ready with the support of the Visit Leeds China Forum and the Business Confucius Institute (BCI).
The Visit Leeds China Forum was launched in June 2019 to help the Leeds visitor economy become more China ready and was hailed by Cllr Judith Blake as “a fantastic initiative”. The business support package includes translation of marketing materials, marketing opportunities in China and via Chinese social media, and training on Chinese language and culture.
Hotels and attractions that have signed up for the Forum sent staff for training at the first China Forum educational workshop at Leeds Marriott Hotel on 24 October, which included a language lesson delivered by the BCI.
Practical tips and insights
Leeds Chinese Tourism Ambassador Will Zhuang kicked off the session with helpful advice for hotels, restaurants and attractions about the habits and expectations of Chinese customers. The practical session was packed with tips from his extensive experience working with businesses in Yorkshire to wow Chinese visitors.
His many tips included:
- Identify and look after the group leader or tour guide. Stay in close contact before the group arrives and communicate with the group through them.
- Provide clear information in Mandarin. This can be via pre-prepared information sheets with QR codes.
Attendees at the event are now well-prepared to avoid common pitfalls including pot noodles in the kettle!
Greeting and welcoming visitors in Mandarin
The group were then led through a Mandarin lesson by BCI Chinese instructor Jianan Meng supported by our Chinese-speaking Marketing Executive Frances Noble.
In this interactive session participants were given a range of useful words and phrases and asked to identify which would be most useful to them in their job. Everyone was soon chatting away practising their pronunciation and gaining confidence using their chosen key phrases.
Attendees certainly rose to the challenge and we are looking forward to hearing how they get on when they use their language skills in real-life situations with Chinese visitors.
As we say in our video Why paying attention to Chinese visitors is good for business, a little goes a long way!
Resources and further information
The next Visit Leeds China Forum workshop takes place on 14 November and is open to China Forum members.
Go to the Visit Leeds China Forum page to download the handout from this session. If you would like to request recordings of the vocabulary to help you practise please contact Frances Noble.
See Will Zhuang in our video Improving the customer experience for Chinese visitors.
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