EU must serve tourists better

Comment on "Europe awaits more visitors from China" (China Daily, April 1)

President Xi Jinping's visit to the European Union has strengthened Sino-EU relations in many fields, including economics, culture and education.

European countries are now expected to provide more convenient services to Chinese tourists, and thus receive them in larger numbers. To start with, EU countries have to (as the article says) simplify the tourist visa application procedure for Chinese citizens. At present, a person is required to submit a whole bunch of documents, go through a complicated procedure and wait for a long time to get a tourist visa to a EU country. The experience becomes more complicated if a Chinese tourist wants to travel alone rather than in a group.

Since the number of Chinese overseas tourists, who have great consumption power, is still rising at a fast pace, EU countries can only gain by simplifying the visa application procedure for Chinese tourists.

EU countries should understand the language obstacles that many Chinese tourists face when they travel abroad. Many museums and other places of interest in Europe still don't have signs and directions in Chinese. Tourist sites in Europe will do a service to Chinese tourists (as well as themselves) by putting up signposts in Chinese.

XIAOHAN, via e-mail

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(China Daily USA 04/10/2014 page12)