Campaign Targets Chinese Tourists Ahead Of Beijing 2008 – New Exhibition Sport

The official Spiritual Civilisation Steering Committee has launched a “Campaign to Promote Civilised Chinese Travellers” targeting Chinese tourists at home and abroad in an effort to correct their embarrassing habits, reports the China Daily.

The campaign is to last until the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games are over and was launched as a response to negative publicity over the behaviour of Chinese tourists when they go overseas.

A statement on the committee’s Web site says, “currently the behaviour of our country’s tourists is not compatible with the rapid development of the tourist industry, nor with China’s international standing”.

The committee cited some Chinese tourists’ lack of concern for appearance, hygiene, courtesy, the law, the environment, and public infrastructure as damaging “the image of China as a civilized country” and generating “widespread attention and criticism domestically and overseas.

“Many tourists clear their throats loudly and spit, take off shoes aboard planes and trains, squat and smoke in public places, and often appear uncouth”, reports the China Daily.

Civil servants and state company executives will be specifically targeted for training, said the statement, while the general public will be educated via the mass media and through pamphlets distributed at public transport stations, hotels, travel agencies, tourist spots, schools and work places.

Meanwhile the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has agreed to organize an exhibition Kabaddi match at the Games, according to Asian Amateur Kabaddi Federation Joint Secretary Mohammad Reza Maghsodlov.

Maghsodlov said that all formalities with the IOC have been completed to organize the match during the 2008 Games.

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