China's authorities have warned its people travelling abroad not to pick their noses in public, slurp their noodles straight from the bowl, pee in pools or steal airplane life jackets. These are just some of the potential faux pas found in a newly published 64-page Guidebook for Civilised Tourism - including illustrations of dos and don'ts. The lengthy document also features 'localised' tips for those travelling to specific countries like Spain or Japan.
The country's Vice Premier Wang Yang says China's tourists have "damaged the image of the Chinese people". In May, for example, 14-year old Ding Jinhao carved his name into a relic at Egypt's Luxor Temple while holidaying in the country. The “Ding Jinhao was here” graffiti provoked outrage in China after it was posted online by another tourist on Sina Weibo (China’s Twitter equivalent).
Chinese citizens made 83 million international trips in 2012. Tourism Ireland is looking to increase the number of Chinese visitors to Ireland to 50,000 within the next five years, compared to 17,000 last year. China's most popular travel blogger Fan 'Mr. Colourful Maps' Yibo visited several Irish tourism spots last month.
Although there are increasing numbers of Chinese people able to afford international travel, there are still some strict restrictions on the issuing of travel visas. Several-month waits for travel approval are common.
China is not the first country to issue guidelines to travelers. Both locals and visitors on Tokyo subways, for example, will often encounter an ongoing series of 'etiquette tip' posters for staying considerate on public transport. There's a new poster every month:
(Main image of Fan Yibo)
