Wrong to demonize tourists

不应“一味抹黑”中国游客

Two online posts stirred wide debate at home about Chinese tourists’ behavior overseas. In one, a video showed dozens of Chinese travelers scooping up shrimps directly with their plates at a buffet in Thailand, and then leaving some plates full of shrimps on their tables after the meal. The other post showed a South Korean restaurant, whose seafood was produced in 2013, that only served Chinese tour groups。

日前，网上两篇关于中国游客在国外低素质表现的帖子在国内引起热议，其中一段视频中记录了在一家泰国的自助餐厅，十几位中国游客直接用餐盘捞虾，并且直至他们用餐结束离去后，桌子上还剩下许多虾。另一片帖子里讲述了一家韩国的海鲜餐厅，用2013年的陈旧海鲜来招待中国游客。

Last year, Chinese tourists made more than 120 million trips abroad, and their destinations covered nearly every corner of the world. So it is not surprising that some unpleasant stories should emerge occasionally. But it is wrong to demonize Chinese tourists or label them as low-quality travelers who deserve inferior treatment, as some media organizations have tried to convey in the way they reported on the two posts.

去年，中国出境游达1.2亿人次，几乎遍布了世界的每个角落，所以偶尔出现些不和谐的事件也是在所难免的，但是不能像一些媒体在报道两则新闻时所传达的观点一样，就抹黑中国游客，甚至给中国游客贴上素质低下的标签，并遭受不公平对待。

In fact, it was confirmed the shrimp video was shot two years ago, and the plates filled with untouched shrimp were suspected of being placed on the table after the diners left. Many Chinese tourists, who are familiar with the restaurant, explained the travel agencies only give them half an hour for the meal, during which hundreds of tourists have to elbow their way into the restaurant, only two spatulas were provided to put the shrimps on plates.

事实上，那段吃虾的视频已经被证实为两年前所拍，盘子里的虾被怀疑是游客离开后被故意放在桌上的，同时熟悉这家餐厅的游客对旅游部门解释说，每个人不仅只有半个小时的用餐时间，游客必须挤着才能进入餐厅，而且更可气的是只有两个铲子来盛虾。

Tourists from Japan and South Korea were also depicted as rude in the 1960s and 1970s when their economies developed and they started traveling abroad. Chinese tourists are going through similar growing pains. Their quality has improved over recent years, and they have become more aware of respecting local customs and behaving themselves. They are now attaching more importance to their experiences when traveling. Foreign businesspeople seeking to fleece Chinese travelers will finally be punished by market laws and lose the world’s fastest-growing source of tourists.

在上世纪六七十年代，正值日本和韩国经济飞速发展时期，国民们纷纷到世界各地旅游，当时他们也被世界舆论评价为粗鲁无礼的代表，而现在中国游客正经历着相同的成长阵痛。但是近几年来，中国游客的的素质已经有了显著的提高，懂得遵守当地的的风俗并规范自己行为，他们更加重视旅游时的体验。那些一心蒙骗中国游客的商人将受到市场相关法规的惩罚，同时失去中国这个增速最快的游客来源。