A traveler from Poland takes photos at the Yuyuan shopping center in Shanghai on Dec 4. [Photo/Xinhua]
To enhance experience for inbound tourists in Shanghai, largely the first destination for their China travel, political advisers in the city have suggested adopting comprehensive, systematic measures, including improving multilingual services across various scenarios.
They also suggested digital public services for Shanghai's city tourism to be better aligned with international standards, and recommended unveiling an official, multilingual guide app for city tour, so that inbound travelers can obtain more information about the city's urban history, architecture, and culture among others.
The advisers submitted these proposals related to building Shanghai into a high-level open gateway during the ongoing annual sessions of the city's legislative and political advisory bodies, which will run through Saturday.
The expansion of China's visa-free travel policies, including the recent extension of transit visa-free stays to 240 hours, has opened the door for more international travelers.
Shanghai's attraction to tourists from South Korea is a heated topic at the sessions. Data from travel platform Ctrip showed that between Nov 8 and Dec 28, orders from inbound tourists from South Korea to Shanghai increased by more than 180 percent year-on-year.
When Delivering the Shanghai Municipal Government Work Report on Wednesday, Mayor Gong Zheng said Shanghai aims to build itself into the first destination for inbound tourism with international friendly tourism product system and convenient services.
In her proposal, Gu Weiling suggested the development of a city-wide action plan for the construction of international language environment to optimize bilingual and even multilingual services across all tourism-related sectors. Such an action plan should include making a unified standard in translation expressions and unifying foreign language signs in public venues.
"Shanghai must also facelift the tourism information service centers throughout the city by benchmarking against the world-famous tourist cities, and information there needs to be presented in at least four languages simultaneously," said Gu, who is also director of the Shanghai Putuo District Administration of Sport.
These centers are also suggested to provide updated tourism information manuals, public transportation information, and maps in multiple languages and in both print and digital, interactive versions, Gu said.
She also suggested that scenic spots should add a special reservation channel for expats in their online reservation systems, allowing passport numbers for registration and reservation. Each scenic spot is also recommended to have an offline ticket purchase channel accepting cash and equipped with devices that support foreign bank card payment.
In a collective proposal by members of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference who are dedicated to fostering friendship with foreign countries, they said that a number of artificial intelligence-powered digital guide tools that can meet tourists' diversified needs for local cultural and tourism information have become preferred official tourist guide apps in cities, such as New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo.
"Currently, due to the lack of multilingual audio guide or invalid QR code scanning at scenic spots in Shanghai, it is difficult for international tourists to have an in-depth experience of Shanghai culture," they wrote in the proposal.
"Even when we see Shanghai is a popular travel destination for tourists from South Korea these days, their experiences are mostly limited to traditional tour attractions, food, and shopping. Even though some are interested the city's history and aesthetics, it is difficult to get information," it continued.
Another proposal focused on using digital technology to solve current difficulties in inbound tourism, including registering for local online car-hailing apps, using mobile payment apps, and the insufficiency of multilingual services in various scenarios, systematically.
"We suggested that a relevant city-level government department, such as the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Affairs Office, should take the lead and join hands with various other government agencies to work out comprehensive solutions, so as to create a smooth digital experience for inbound travelers throughout the entire travel process," said Yan Jiehong, one of the political advisers involved in drafting the proposal.
Last year, Shanghai launched a one-stop integrated service center at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, providing services such as Wi-Fi device rental, SIM card and transportation card sales, and foreign currency exchange to address immediate needs upon arrival for inbound travelers.
