China News Agency, Phnom Penh, February 8th: Chinese tourists "returned in a group" and Cambodia eagerly welcomed them

　　Author Ouyang Kaiyu Yu Xiangjun

　　Outside Phnom Penh International Airport, a group of tourists stepped onto the tourist bus talking and laughing.

Some of them were still wearing sweater jackets, and some checked the temperature in Phnom Penh in advance and changed into short-sleeved shorts.

　　This is a tour group issued earlier since China resumed its pilot program of outbound group tours.

Chinese tourists are looking forward to "group" outbound travel, and Cambodian tourism practitioners are eager to welcome them.

　　Tan Jinling from Guangzhou Guangzhi International Travel Agency is the team leader of this group tour. She has not taken outbound travel business for a long time. She is a little unfamiliar with Cambodia and needs to find the person in charge here.

On the Cambodian side, Shen Pingwu, a local tour guide, arrived at the airport early, put on his work permit, raised a small yellow flag, and waited for the arrival of the tour group.

　　"Hello Chinese tourists! I am Xiao Shen, the local tour guide for this trip. I will take you to explore the mysterious country of Cambodia for five days and four nights." For the past three years, Shen Pingwu has been practicing Chinese and maintaining his sense of language. In vain, he quickly integrated into the team and aroused the curiosity of tourists.

　　In fact, Shen Pingwu, who can speak fluent Chinese, is the epitome of thousands of tourism practitioners in Cambodia.

China is an important source of international tourists for Cambodia's tourism industry. In 2019, Cambodia received 2.3 million Chinese tourists.

Cambodia is looking forward to the return of Chinese tourists.

　　Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian, Cambodian Minister of Tourism Tang Kun, Acting Minister of the Civil Aviation Secretariat Mahavanna, and Deputy Mayor of Phnom Penh Gao Cai jointly welcomed Chinese tourists at Phnom Penh International Airport and presented traditional Cambodian water cloths to tourists one by one. and garlands, to give them sincere wishes and a warm welcome.

　　In order to welcome Chinese tourists, the Cambodian government has successively introduced a number of measures.

It is worth mentioning that the Cambodian government has approved and encouraged all hotels, restaurants and other business establishments to use RMB for settlement.

　　At the same time, Cambodia officially implemented the "China ready" white paper plan to improve the service quality for Chinese tourists.

Specific measures include cooperating with the Chinese embassy in Cambodia and the Confucius Institute, training tour guides and staff who can speak Chinese, serving Chinese tourists at airports, restaurants, hotels, etc., and all related services for receiving Chinese tourists must meet the standards.

　　"This business is also an important attempt for travel agencies to re-evaluate the outbound group travel market." Tan Jinling said.

　　Tan Jinling said that it is necessary not only to bring tourists to eat and have fun, but also to collect feedback from tourists to adjust tourism products and services, but also to take this opportunity to re-establish contact with local travel agencies and integrate local resources so that hotels, air tickets, catering, Procurement of transportation and other services.

　　Zhou Yingping, general manager of the Phnom Penh sales department of China Southern Airlines, told a reporter from China News Agency that since the resumption of the pilot outbound group tour, it has received inquiries about air ticket reservations from many travel agencies.

　　"Tourists are an important part of the passenger source of China-Cambodia flights. As a practitioner in the civil aviation industry, I am very happy to see the recovery of outbound group tours. With the arrival of Chinese group tourists, the overall recovery of Cambodia's tourism industry is expected to be more optimistic." Zhou Yingping said.

　　The enthusiasm of Cambodia will also bring a unique travel experience to Chinese tourists.

Chinese tourist Liu Jiahao chose Cambodia for his first overseas trip with his parents, because "it is close to the Chinese and friendly to the Chinese, which makes family travel more worry-free."

The 68-year-old "travel expert" Zhang Xiaoming hopes to complete his world travel map by exploring this "ancient and mysterious country".

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