The 2012 Tianjin Summer Davos Forum will be held from 11th to 13th September in Tianjin. At present, various preparatory arrangements for the meeting are under progress in order. Chief of Tianjin Municipal Tourism Administration, She Qingwen introduced the preparatory work in the aspects of hospitality and tourism.

Q: In recent years, Tianjin has been improving tourism service skill and level. A few days ago, Tianjin Municipal Tourism Administration held “Tianjin Tourism Hospitality Skill Competition to Welcome Davos”, and what does this competition mean to the whole industry?

She: The Tourism Hospitality Skill Competition was designed to encourage all hotel staffs to learn business knowledge and service skills, promote mutual learning and exchange among hotels and drive the whole tourism hospitality industry to upgrade service skills. In comparison with previous competitions, this competition witnessed a high level of candidates in terms of manners, appearance, service skills and etiquettes etc.

Tianjin will hold 18 national and international level large-scale activities in August and September this year, and particularly in September, 10 large-scale activities will be held in the city, including China Tourism Industry Expo, the 7th China Cruise Industry Development Conference, and China Tianjin Mazu Culture Tourism Festival, only speaking of tourism. Our service skill competition this time was in place not only to welcome the Summer Davos Forum, but also to prepare for other large-scale activities.

Through this competition, hotel staffs have got an integral upgrade in quality and service skill level and can provide better services to domestic and foreign guests. It is predicted that there will be 1,500 people coming to Tianjin for the forum, including important politicians of different countries and high management of Global Fortune 500. Serving these people also raises higher requirements for the hospitality industry. Hotel staffs need to further improve services and make domestic and foreign guests feel satisfaction and comfort with a sense of coming to Tianjin as if coming home, so as to display charms of Tianjin as Bohai Sean Bright Pearl, showcase the city’s generosity, foreign flavor, freshness and brightness with a combination of Chinese and Western styles and an integration of ancient and modern flavors, and promote the development of its tourism service industry in a better way.

Q: During the 2012 Summer Davos Forum, what key touring routes will Tianjin recommend to foreign guests?

She: In recent years, Tianjin’s tourism department has prepared touring routes, written tour guide commentaries and trained tour guides, which have combined to wonderfully display the city to the world. During the forum, Tianjin will prepare 4 sightseeing touring routes, including Metropolitan Expo Tour, Haihe River Night View Tour, Mountainous Famous Spots Tour, and Folk Custom Leisure Tour. Besides, there are 3 industrial touring routes. All these 7 routes are of Tianjin’s specialty, and also reflect its development over recent years. We will display the city’s charms through these touring routes.

Q: During the 2012 Summer Davos, with domestic and foreign guests gathering in Tianjin, what measures will the tourism department take to manage and supervise travel agencies, maintain tourism market order, and protect legal rights and benefits of tourists?

She: In recent years, Tianjin’s tourism industry has conducted the activity of “Quality Travel with You”, and advocated civilized travel, quality travel and rational consumption, and the tourism department has also improved quality in the aspects of food, hotel, traffic, tour, shopping and entertainment, particularly making continuous progress in the aspects of formulation and internationalization of tourism service regulation standards. This skill competition is a sound expression of Tianjin’s upgrade in service quality. We emphasize fine services to promote the city’s integral quality and make our guests feel satisfied in all aspects of food, hotel, traffic, tour, shopping and entertainment.