European Academy of Chinese Speaking Tour Guides
European Academy of Chinese Speaking Tour Guides (EACSTG) was established in the year of 2003 in Hamburg. It is the first professional institution that has been constantly training Chinese tour guides for European Chinese tourism, and so far the only professional institution that has won acknowledgement from 22 European tourism institutes, commissions and bureaus.
EACSTG commits to train high quality professional tour guides for Chinese tourism in Europe. With a history of 12 years, it has offered 43 semesters of Basic Training Courses and 4 semesters of Intermediate Training Courses, which have developed more than 1000 outstanding professional tour guides for Chinese tourism in Europe. While fulfilling Chinese travelers’ needs in in-depth European travel experience, EACSTG also makes great contribution to creating job opportunities for Chinese living in Europe.
Why does Europe need professional Chinese speaking tour guides
Since China signed the first ADS tourism agreement with European countries in 2003, Chinese outbound tourism market has always maintained a rapid growth. In the year of 2014, the number of Chinese outbound tourists made a significant breakthrough and exceeded 100 million. And as time goes by, the travel mode and habit of Chinese tourists has greatly changed. About ten years ago, Chinese tourists were still used to taking superficial sightseeings; but nowadays, they would like to have in-depth tours in their tourist destination countries. Thus, they have much higher expectations on their tourist guides than before. Professional Chinese speaking tour guides are overall in high demand.
From another point of view, many countries in the world have taken measures to simplify their visa policies to attract more Chinese tourists. Cuba, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives and other 20 countries have applied visa-free policy; USA has begun to issue 10 year multiple entry business and tourist visas for Chinese citizens.In comparison with all the countries, Europe fails to make similar improvements and the visa application formalities of European countries for Chinese tourists are still complicated and cumbersome. As a result, Europe no longer holds its monopoly position as the most favorite outbound destination for Chinese tourists. Under such situation, the ability to provide professional Chinese-speaking tour guide service would be a key point for Europe to attract more Chinese tourists.
Aim of the Academy
The aim of EACSTG is to train local Chinese people living in Europe to become professional tour guides with deep understanding of the whole Europe.
When Chinese tourists visit Europe, they often seek for sightseeing in several countries. However, the tour guide who accompanied them from China to Europe usually lacks the ability to fulfill their requirements for an "in-depth European experience”, because he lives in China and has limited understanding of European history, architecture and culture.
Thus, training professional Chinese speaking tour guides with profound understanding of Europe is the first priority of European Chinese Tourism industry. EACSTG would like to cooperate with European Travel Commission to provide professional Chinese speaking tour guides for all European countries.
Teaching Methods
EACSTG adopts Germany´s traditional "Double-Track" teaching method, which combines theoretical lectures with practical world. EACSTG´s faculty consists of senior experts from various fields including history, fine art, geography, tourism, architecture, language and tax reimbursements. Their expertise helps students develop professional guiding skills based on understanding of European history and culture. Study trips and internships are also arranged as compulsory subjects.
Since 2015, in cooperation with European Federation of Chinese Guides Organization(including Chinese tour guide unions in France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Germany), EACSTG has established branch academies in Paris, Vienna, Milan and Geneva. Students profit from “Circuit training system” and are encouraged to learn and travel in different countries.
Certification Authorities
By end of semester students will be required to take graduate exams. Those who successfully pass written and oral exam will be granted with certificate. The certificates of EACSTG will be jointly granted by 22 European tourism institutes, commissions and bureaus, which are Baden-Baden Tourism, Berlin Tourism, Hamburg Tourism, “The essence of German history” Tourism, Nuremberg and Fuerth Tourism, German "Romantic Road" Tourism, Rudesheim Tourism, Baden-Wurttemberg Tourism, Trier Tourism, Bonn Tourism, Asia Shen Tourism, Celle Tourism, Picardy Region Tourism, University of Picardy Jules Verne, Herault Tourism, Avignon Tourism, Burgundy Region Tourism, Bona Tourism, Marseille Tourism, Cannes Tourism, Akers Tourism, and Amiens Tourism.
Internship and Recommendation
EACSTG website contains special forums like “Travel Agencies looking for Tour Guides”, “Tour Guides looking for Travel Agencies”, “Tourism Bureau looking for Tour Guides”, which provide excellent communication platforms for travel agencies, tour guides, and tourism bureaus.
For students that pass through the graduating exam and internship, they will gain priority to be referred to each travel agent in Europe. At the same time, outstanding graduates’ contact information will also be posted occasionally to public on the institute website for a direct and convenient search by the travel agents. Since 2015, the institute is also contacting China’s 20 thousands outbound travel agents in referring outstanding Chinese tour guides for them.
Partnership
Strategic Media Partner - "Europe Times"
One of the world's top 20 overseas Chinese media, "Europe Times", is EACSTG´s strategic media partner for years. With a monthly circulation of 95,000 copies, "Europe Times" covers not only major European countries and regions, but also all Europe-China flights of large airlines such as Air China, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines.
Each issue of "Europe Times" has a special section for EACSTG to publish a series of articles on academy activities, theoretical study of Chinese tourism in Europe or tour guides experiences. The name list of all outstanding graduates is also published on newspaper, so that travel agencies could get in touch.
Strategic partner - China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI)
Since 2015, EACSTG and China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) has established close strategic partnership. The director of COTRI, Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, acts as the vice president of EACSTG.
China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, headquartered in Hamburg-Germany, focuses on Chinese outbound tourism market and aims to provide background information and in-depth analysis of the China's outbound tourism for customer around the world. Since its establishment in 2004, COTRI has released many researches and monographs on Chinese outbound tourism, including "China Tourism Academy: Annual Report China Outbound Tourism Development 2009/2010 - English Edition», «Are you ready -For Chinese Travellers » and so on.
The strong partnership between European Academy of Chinese Speaking Tour Guides and China Outbound Tourism Research Institute will undoubtedly contribute a very significant outcome in promoting the Europe Tourism.