英闻天下——252 Chinese Rush Overseas for Spring Festival

 　　With more and more Chinese people now starting to shun¹ the tradition of traveling home for the Spring Festival and traveling overseas instead, Chinese tourism operators are starting to tailor their packages accordingly.

 

　　CRI's Su Yi has more.

 

　　Sydney's harbor, beaches and outdoor lifestyle have long attracted tourists from across the globe.

 

　　But now the demographic of visitors heading Down Under is changing fast.

 

　　Government figures show China is now Australia's second biggest market.

 

　　Felicia Mariani, managing director of Australian Tourism Export Council, attributes the inflow of Chinese tourists to the global financial crisis.

 

　　"What happened was through the GFC (global financial crisis) all of a sudden the markets in the East became even more prominent. Because those economies were not as adversely² affected³ by the GFC, they rebounded⁴ quite quickly. The emerging middle class started to happen a lot faster and all of a sudden it was like we woke up one day and everyone needed to quickly turn to the left because all of the (tourism) business was now coming from the East."

 

　　Chinese tourists to Australia increased by 17 percent in the past year, surpassing the total number of visitors from Britain for the first time, though New Zealand remains⁵ Australia's biggest source of visitors.

 

　　The Accor Hotel Group runs regular Chinese culture, language and history courses for its staff across Australia.

 

　　Accor Business Development Manager Kate Marshall says the hotels have introduced several initiatives to improve their welcome for Chinese visitors.

 

　　"We needed to be able to provide services, special foods and collateral⁶ that they (Chinese visitors) could understand. We also knew that our staff was having difficulty sometimes understanding what their needs were, and so this course also helps them to understand the history and the background of the Chinese guests."

 

　　Tourism authorities in Australia are estimating at least a million Chinese tourists will visit Australia per year by 2020.

 

　　In China, there has been a 30 percent increase in bookings for overseas travel during the Spring Festival this year compared to two years ago, with Thailand being the most attractive country.

 

　　Thailand's tourism authorities estimate 200-thousand Chinese tourists will visit Thailand for the Lunar New Year.

 

　　Analysts⁷ are attributing the phenomenon on the income increase, flexible visa policies and a strong Chinese currency.

 

　　The increasing enthusiasm for overseas trips during the Spring Festival is part of a surging market for China's outbound tourism.

 

　　Official numbers suggest over 80 million Chinese citizens went on outbound tours in 2012.

 

　　That was almost 17 percent more than the year earlier.

 

　　Those Chinese tourists took the equivalent of almost 100 billion US dollars to their destinations.

 

　　For CRI, I'm Su Yi.

1 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

2 adversely   

ad.有害地

参考例句：

• We commented adversely upon the imbecility of that message of telegraphic style. 我们对着这条电报式的愚蠢的留言发泄了一通不满。
• Widely fluctuating exchange rates may adversely affect international trade. 浮动幅度很大的汇率可能会对国际贸易产生有害的影响。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。