2021 Tourism Chinese Language and Culture Training wraps up in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 11 (People’s Daily Online) -- The 2021 Tourism Chinese Language and Culture Training program cohosted by the Tourism Business Council of South Africa and the University of Johannesburg successfully ended on Dec. 11, 2021. The training was co-organized by the University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape and the Cape Academy of Math, Science & Technology, with the support of the Association of South African Universities.

The six-week training program was attended by government officials from the Department of Tourism of South African, students and teachers from universities specializing in tourism, managers from industry associations at all levels, owners and management of tourism service trading companies, and practitioners from the tourism industry chain.

Sarab Sinha, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Johannesburg, praised the training as "giving a new impetus to the recovery of the entire South African tourism industry." He congratulated the participants on the successful completion of the training and welcomed them to continue their Chinese language studies at the Confucius Institute in Johannesburg next year.

Linda Meyer, Executive Director of the Association of South African Universities, said that one of their duties is to promote the services offered by universities for the benefit of society and the economy. All these top-ranked universities in South Africa were able to join them and use the Confucius Institute Consortium as a support to serve the South African tourism industry and strengthen the professional skills of practitioners, as well as to promote the development of the discipline of tourism at universities.

Jamie Leigh Stafford, a South African national tour guide from the Western Cape, spoke at the closing ceremony as a representative of the participants. She expressed how much the participants appreciated and enjoyed the training, and how useful the lecturers and experts were, giving them the confidence to overcome their current difficulties and focus on learning and enriching themselves.

Vumile Sithole, the director from a local tourism company, said the course was the best tourism training she had ever attended, with a very professional team of lecturers and interesting and practical courses. Many of the participants hope to continue to attend similar Chinese language courses in the future, and said they would bring their family and friends along to learn Chinese language and culture as well.

The well-prepared lectures by the teaching team were warmly welcomed and appreciated by the participants. Peng Yi, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Johannesburg, said that tourism is one of the industries most affected by the epidemic in South Africa, and the Confucius Institute in Johannesburg is pleased to join hands with some Confucius Institutes (classes) in South Africa to contribute to the recovery of the tourism industry throughout the country.