Paris airport retrofits to woo Chinese tourists
Updated: 2012-01-18 10:03
(Xinhua)
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PARIS - France's airport service provider Aeroports de Paris on Tuesday launched new initiatives to meet Chinese tourists who will flush in during the Chinese lunar new year, the Spring Festival, which will fall on January 23.
To make the Chinese passengers feel "being at home", the Charles de Gaulle airport will welcome Chinese passengers in broadcast both in Manderin and in Cantonese.
Moreover, passengers will catch their first sights on a red-colored greeting arch-gate marked in Chinese calligraphy "Happy Dragon Year" and the poster reading "Enjoy Nice Holidays" at terminal 2E of the airport.
During this Chinese festival season, the airport planned to offer a red envelope to each Chinese passenger upon the arrival, which contains a welcome letter from the president of the Paris airport, a bilingual-marked Paris map in English and in Chinese, and an introduction of the mobile applications to the airport services.
The airport also developed an application for Chinese mobile users that can be installed both in iPhone and Android smartphone to help Chinese passengers command basic vocabulary in French and locate places.
Francois Rubichon, Chief Operating Officer of Aeroports de Paris, told a press conference that in 2011 Charles de Gaulle airport welcomed 1.8 million Chinese passengers, an increase of 9 percent compared to the previous year, and ranked No.1 among customer groups in the French airport duty-free shops.
The Paris airport will therefore invite more shop assistants who can speak Chinese and organize a Chinese language and etiquette training course for its staff, said Rubichon.
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