Mr. Zhu Wenbin, the chairman, and Mr. Eduardo Santander officially held a cooperation signing ceremony at the Chinese Embassy in Germany in Berlin

September 23, 2015 The signing ceremony of the cooperation between the European Academy of Chinese Speaking Tour Guides and the EuropeanTravel Commission was grandly held at the Chinese Embassy in Germany in Berlin. Mr. Zhu Wenbin (left in the picture above), Chairman of the Swiss Tiantan Sifang Tourism Group and President of the Swiss Chinese Tourism Association, as the Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute, signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute with Mr. Eduardo Santander (right in the picture above), Executive Director of the European Tourism Commission, on the spot. This signing ceremony has attracted the attention and coverage of many German and domestic media outlets.

Mr. Han Guangming, Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in Germany, Mr. Nils Allen, a member of the German Parliament and spokesperson for the Social Democratic Party, Mr. Thiel Weigl, Head of the German National Tourist Board for Asia, Ms. Zhu Xiaohui, Honorary President of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute, and Ms. Li Wenfang and Ms. Li Zhi, Executive directors of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute, attended the signing ceremony and delivered speeches.

According to the cooperation agreement between the two sides, the European Tourism Commission will fully support the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute in becoming the official Chinese tour guide training institution in Europe. All students who pass the graduation assessment of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute will be jointly awarded a graduation certificate and a tour guide certificate by the European Tourism Commission and the institute. The European Tourism Commission will also specially confer the title of "Ambassador of Destination Europe" upon trainees who pass the assessment of the intermediate tour guide training class of the college. This title will be reflected on the trainees' graduation certificates and tour guide certificates.

In May 2003, Mr. Chen Mang, the founder of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute, in collaboration with Mr. Zhu Wenbin, the chairman of the Swiss Tiantan Sifang Tourism Group, and other leading enterprises in the European tourism industry, established the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute in Hamburg, Germany. It is the first professional institution in Europe dedicated to training Chinese tour guides for the Chinese tourism industry in Europe It is also the only professional Chinese tour guide training college to date that has been jointly certified by 22 European tourism boards and tourism institutions. Over the past 12 years of steady development, the college has not only cultivated a high-quality and high-standard professional tour guide team for the Chinese tourism industry in Europe to meet the all-round and in-depth experience of Europe that Chinese tourists visiting Europe expect, but also created countless job and employment opportunities for Chinese compatriots who have been living in Germany, Switzerland and other European countries for a long time. The European Tourism Board was established in 1948, with its headquarters located in Brussels, Belgium. It is responsible for representing the tourism bureaus of all member states in Europe to promote European tourism to the world in a unified manner. In June 2015, with the joint efforts of Mr. Chen Mang, the founder of the college, and all colleagues, in order to promote the common goal of both sides in promoting the tourism of Chinese people in Europe, the annual board meeting of the European Tourism Commission reached a resolution to officially establish the cooperative relationship between the commission and the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute.

On behalf of Ambassador Shi Mingde of the People's Republic of China to Germany, Mr. Han Guangming, the Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in Germany, read out Ambassador Shi Mingde's congratulatory message at the signing ceremony. This is a milestone in the development history of the Chinese tour guide industry in Europe, a blessing for the Chinese tourism industry in Europe, and a good opportunity for cultural exchanges between China and Europe. Ambassador Shi said so in his speech. Ambassador Shi stated that today's signing of the cooperation agreement symbolizes the close communication and joint efforts between the European Chinese tourism industry and European tourism institutions. Undoubtedly, it will effectively integrate the resources of all parties in the European Chinese tourism industry, standardize industry standards, safeguard the interests of the industry, and promote the European Chinese tourism industry to embrace a new pattern with a brand-new look that meets market demands. At the same time, Mr. Han Guangming, the Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in Germany, presented the graduation certificates to the latest graduating students of the college and took a group photo with them.

Mr. Zhu Wenbin, the Chairman and Executive President of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute, the Chairman of the Swiss Tiantan Sifang Tourism Group, and the President of the Swiss Chinese Tourism Association, said in his speech that as European countries ease their visa policies for China, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Europe will increase significantly in the future. This is both an opportunity and a challenge. The Chinese tourism industry in Europe will need more professional Chinese tour guides who have lived in Europe for a long time and are familiar with the situation throughout Europe.

Ms. Zhu Xiaohui, the honorary president of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute, said in her speech that today's cooperation signing is just the first step. In the future, the college will also rely on the resources of the European Chinese Tourism Association and the European Chinese Tour Guide Alliance to integrate the elite talents of the European Chinese tourism industry into a professional teaching staff. Based on the cooperation between the college and the European Tourism Commission, further communication and coordination will be carried out with EU countries to strive for the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese tour guides throughout Europe. According to Ms. Li Wenfang, the director of the college, the website of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute is about to launch the entry points for the tour guide resource database and the travel agency database. All tour guides and travel agencies that register and join the database can conveniently query each other's information and easily post personal resumes or enterprise information files.

After the signing ceremony of the cooperation agreement between the college and the European Tourism Commission, Mr. Chen Tongdu, the rotating president of the European Chinese Tourism Association, and Mr. Long Xuewu, the president of the European Chinese Tour Guide Alliance, signed the "Declaration on Cooperation between the European Chinese Tourism Industry and the European Chinese Tour Guide Industry". Taking the support of the European Tourism Commission for the training system of Chinese tour guides in Europe as an opportunity, Strengthen the dialogue among tourism industries in different regions and establish a tacit cooperation between the Chinese tourism industry in Europe and the Chinese-language tour guide industry in Europe.

After the signing ceremony on September 23rd, the college will also launch an intermediate tour guide training course in the near future, providing high-quality Chinese tour guide talents for the European Chinese tourism industry. Swiss Tiantan Sifang Travel Group is the official partner of the European Chinese Tour Guide Training Institute in Switzerland. This is a great opportunity for Chinese tour guides working in the tourism industry in Switzerland. They can not only improve their professional knowledge to a higher level, but also have a comprehensive understanding of the tourism industry and Chinese tour guides in various European countries, and obtain more industry resources.