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Asian Games boosts hospitality industry in Guangdong

By Li Wenfang and Zheng Erqi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-20 22:16

GUANGZHOU： The upcoming 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou creates a historic opportunity for the hospitality industry of Guangdong, said a top tourism official of the province.

The Games will boost inbound travel, foreign currency revenue and domestic travel, Mei Qijie, a deputy director of the tourism administration of Guangdong, told the media today.

The event will also help promote the tourism products of Guangdong, raise service quality, improve the infrastructure and increase the momentum of growth in the sector, he said.

Mei said 43,328 tour guides in Guangdong have taken 56 hours of training, including service skills, knowledge of the Asian Games, and interpretation of the scenic spots, to improve their service quality.

By the end of July, Guangdong had 1,206 star-rated hotels, including 86 five-star ones, ranking the first in the country.

To strengthen safety in the tourism industry, authorities conducted 193 checks in 993 tourism businesswa in the first half of this year, with complaints to the tourism quality supervision authorities going down by 40.5 percent year-on-year during the period.