Lesson 9
Text A.
Problems and Emergencies
A tour guide works in an environment where all kinds of unpredictable
accidents can arise, such as sudden weather changes, a car break down,
and special medical conditions, which can dramatically upset and distress
tourists, thereby affecting smooth running of the tour procedure, or even
generating a disaster. Therefore, the safety of guest is our first priority. To
nip things in the bud to enhance security so as to guarantee customer
service, a guide needs to possess the following attributes:
1. Recognition of a potential emergency situation.
2. Prevention of an emergency situation.
3. Reaction to an emergency situation.
4. Ability to handle emergency situations.
All guides can make a difference as far as the guest’s safety is
concerned. Any negligence any bring disasters. As a tour guide, you need
to read the emergency procedures manual that has been designed to give
guidelines in the event of emergency or other incidents. If uncertainty
does happen, it is an absolute necessity to respond promptly and cope
with it appropriately. Otherwise, a serious accident is most likely to
threaten the status of a travel agency or even the public image of a
country. Therefore, regardless of the size of a group ,you should by all
means adhere to strict safety procedures on each trip .
Below are some typical emergency cases a guide may confront with
and a couple of effective hints in solving them.
Relocate a Lost Tourist
When a tourist is reported missing during a tour, you should react in a
calm and reasonable manner and take the following action. Firstly,
immediate efforts will be made to locate the tourist in the scenic spot or
any other location where he/she gets lost. Keep contact with the front
desk of the hotel, and ask the staff to notify you if the lost guest shows up
in the hotel.
Secondly, the tour guide should take care of others while you trying to
find the missing tourist. In the event that the lost guest can’t be found for
quite a while, ask the administration service in a scenic spot for help. If
he/she remains unfound, report it to your travel agency and seek help
from the nearest police station. You will need to provide them with
following information: a detailed description of the tourist, including
name, age, hair color, eye color, a approximate weight and height, and
what he. She is wearing.
After the tourist has been found , the guide must apologize sincerely to
him/her if the guide is to be blamed for the accident. Otherwise, he tour
guide should strive to comfort him/her instead of putting the blame on
him./her. Tell him./her and other tourists how to avoid getting strayed..
Afterward, write a report in case a severe accident occurs, giving a
detailed description of the whole course of the incident.
To avoid the lost of a guest , you must do the following
Take necessary prevention measures and explain explicitly to the
guests.
Make sure guests are clear about itinerary of the whole day, places to
visit, the time for assembling, and the tour guide’s phone number.
Take a roll call or a count before transferring guests to the next
destination.
Traveler’s Diarrhea
Changes in climate and time zone, long hours of sightseeing, disruption
of eating habits and so on can easily enhance the possibility of getting
sick by being aware of the simple rules that will be explained here.
1. To dine only in the restaurant designated by the local tourism
authority, instead of unlicensed snack bars or road side stands,
which may not offer hygienically prepared food., Note also that to
consume only food or beverage of reputable brands.
2. Watch what you eat to reduce the possibilities of being affected.
Food poisoning can also occur if there has been improper handling
of food or drink by kitchen or serving personnel.
When possible, eat food that is cooked right in front of you, or that
comes freshly cooked from the restaurant’s kitchen. If you have any
doubt about the safety of the food, require the restaurant to replace
it.
3. Tour guides should be especially vigilant of travelers that are likely
to be much out in the sun. Note that even when swimming in the
sea/ocean they are losing body heat and can become dehydrated.
Remind them to consume bottled water, soup,. Thus, by keeping an
adequate consumption of liquids, their body will be in better
condition to resist microbes to which your body is not immune.
Property Security
Travelers have had their personal items, valuables, passports stolen or
robbed every year. It can result in much inconvenience or additional
payouts to the guests. It is one of those things that may ruin a vacation.
Effective measures should be taken by the tour guide to secure their
property during a tour to avoid the fearful experience. How can he/she
do it? Here are some elementary rules to keep the belongings safe.
1. Give luggage security warnings constantly. Never heave their
belongings unguarded in hustling and bustling venues. Examine
personal items to see what they have left behind every time before
leaving for a location. Take luggage count and carry on the
handing over procedure very scrupulously.
2. A guide should avoid keeping important certificates for his guests.
Guests should have the documents securely placed on the bottom
of a day pack while sightseeing. Keep it in front of him/her.
3. Keep the door and windows closed as son as the passengers
disembark the bus.
4. No showing off money in public makes a tourist less of a target.
Keep the money to the skin. Even if a thief sees that the money is
kept next to your skin, he will know that it is too difficult to rob
you of.
5. Keep valuable in a safety deposit box at your hotel instead of
leaving them in your room. They should take them to the shower
with them . Sleep on top of them.
6. Keep camera equipment in a day pack and carry it with you
everywhere. In any questionable situation, wear it in front of you!
This includes crowded bus stations, in queues in a scenic spot, or
even strolling down the street in theft-prone cities. Lock the
camera equipment inside of your rucksack when it cannot be seen
or easily stolen.
Precautionary measures must be taken for preventing, preparing for,
and responding to emergencies and uncertainties for safety of tourists
as well as protecting tourists from being cheated and harassed or
crimes against tourists.
Whether the tour can go smoothly and safely is what the guide
should take into account first and foremost, Thereby, it’s guide’ main
task to be available to maintain the necessary safety of guests and
ensure their well-being so as to guarantee the operation of high
quality, wonderful journey and an incident-free trip.
Text B. Entertainment & Shopping
Another powerful tourism magnet is entertainment. Live entertainment
is often the main attraction for a vacation trip. The deadheads following
the Grateful Dead Concert tour are a prime example. Another are people
traveling to Nashville, Tennessee to hear country and western music at
the Grand Ol’ Opry . Branson, Missouri has put itself on the map as
music entertainment center and is now challenging Nashville. One of the
centerpieces of the famous “Love New York” advertising campaign was
going to Broadway play or musical. A theater tour to London is a
powerful vacation lure. Large members of performing arts tours are
offered.
The US Travel Data Center estimates that entertainment travel
accounts for 326 million person trips per year of one-fourth of all travel
in America. The institute of Outdoor Drama reports that there are 70
outdoor dramas in the US, providing 4500 summer jobs and recording
$30 million in revenue each year. According to the League of American
Theaters and Producers, attendance at professional theaters, symphony,
opera, and dance performances totaled 86.3 million in 1991, generating
$6.5 billion in revenue.
Shopping
Shopping is an important part of any tourist’s activities. To make
shopping as convenient as possible, many hotels provide shops featuring
gift items, particularly local handicrafts and artwork. In the shopping
areas of each community that caters successfully to tourists are found
high-quality gift and souvenir shops featuring items of particular interest
to visitors. The chain hotel and motel companies have also organized gift
shop s as part of their operations. Host International maintains a system
of gift and merchandise shops inmost of the areas in which it has
established airport dining rooms, cocktail lounges, snack bar, coffee
shops, and in-flight food services. These gift and merchandise shops are
an important part of the business operations. In addition, gift shops are
provided along the toll roads, where Host International provides dinging
rooms, coffee shops, and snack bars.
Gift and souvenir shops and the companies operating them are
commonly members of the local chambers of commerce, convention and
visitors bureaus, and regional or local trip but can be the reason for going.
The factory outlet store located in a destination resort setting had proven
to be a successful and rapidly growing phenomenon. The Mall of
America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is the largest mall in the United
States. It is proving to be a real tourist attraction. Excursion motorcoach
tours in Minnesota and nearby states now feature packages with Mall of
American as their destination. This mall is particularly attractive to
children as it features LEGO’s gigantic space station, dinosaurs, a
medieval castle, and other intricate creations. They can also enjoy Knott’s
Camp Snoopy and plenty of rides. There are 14 theaters in the Upper East
side entertainment district, plus a comedy club, sports bars, and a variety
of nightclubs. While shopping at the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta,
Canada, one can view sharks from a submarine, live a Roman fantasy, or
soap in a bubble-filled spa near a volcano. This mall is the largest in the
world. It even contains a full-scale replica of Columbus’s ship Santa
Maria, roulette wheels, the Ice Palace, and, of course, hundreds of stores,
plus some theme parks.
Listening : Check-out (P92)
1.Listen to Mr. Collins check out of the Admiral Hotel in St Petersburg.
How does he react to the bill? Why?
2.Listen again and answer the questions.
a) What did Mr. Collions order from room service?
b) Where is the information about prices?
c) Who did Mr. Collions telephone?
d) Why are the phone calls from the hotel expensive?
e) What is the correct total amount for the bill?
f) How is he going to pay the bill?
Practical Writing : How to Reply to Complaining
Letters
Express regret sincerely ( don’t say such words as “ we can’t
understand how this happened…”, because this implies that the customer
is careless or stupid- since no one else has had this trouble.
Explain how the trouble occurred ( the customer is entitled to know
what went wrong- this also reflects well on your business, since it shows
that you’ve taken the complaint seriously enough to investigate it
thoroughly- and we all like to be taken seriously!
Tell the customer what you are going to do to rectify the
situation-the best thing to do is exactly what the customer said he/she
wanted. If this is totally impossible, suggest a viable alternative.
Sometimes the customer will be a fault- by forgetting to include a correct
address, or leaving out the check. Again, don’t write anything which
might make the customer feel silly.
Sample :
Claude Museum
600 Wuzhong Road
Shanghai, 20000
Dear Mr. Brown,
Thank you for taking the time to complete a comment card during
your recent visit to the museum on 20 September.
I am sorry to hear that your visit was marred by visitor access
problems. We are often trying to make improvements in this area and
your comments will be important to us for future planning. I am sure you
will realize, however, that this is a historic environment and a World
Heritage Site. While most of our historic buildings are now accessible,
some area of the Site ( not necessarily under Museum control), may still
require more work. It is also necessary to get a balance between easy
visitor access and the important qualities of historic buildings in a major
heritage Landscape.
However, our staff is available to help you as much as you may need.
If you have any special needs before any future visit, please feel free to
contact our information board on 021 8858 4422 and we will try to help
you.
Again, thank you for taking the time to complete a comment card.
Your feedback is important to us and helps us to make continuous
improvements within the Museum.
Yours sincerely
Michael Longfellow
Cc: General Manager
Word bank
dramatically 戏剧地
distress 悲痛， 忧伤
ultimately 最后，终于
priority 优先级
manual 手册
circumstance 环境
status 身份，地位
oversight 疏忽
bacteria 细菌
symptom 症状
diarrhea 腹泻
vomit 呕吐
parasite 寄生虫
contamination 污染
precaution 预防
hygiene 卫生
payout 支出
bustling 熙熙攘攘
scrupulous 小心谨慎的
vigilant 警惕的
telecommunication 电信
confidential 密件
fax mail 传真邮件
airmail 航空邮件
printed matters 印刷品
remittance 汇款
postage free 免邮资
registration fee 挂号费
c/o, care of 某某转交
photos enclosed 内有照片
overseas call 国际电话
internal call 内部电话
telephone directory 电话簿
telephone operator 电话接线员
customs house 海关
customs procedures 海关手续
facilitation 简化手续
passport inspection 护照检查
embarkation/disembarkation card 出入境卡
service passport 公务护照
diplomatic passport 外交护照
student visa 学生签证
identity card 身份证
export license 出口许可证
application form 申请书
currency declaration form 携带货币申报单 quarantine 检疫
immunization card
免疫卡
inoculation 接种
International Certificate of Vaccination 国际防疫证明
Act of smuggling 走私
yellow book 黄皮书
Minimum mileage 基价公里 meteorological department 气象部门
Exercises
1 For review and discussion.
Text A
1.) What kind of unpredictable accidents can arise during the tour?
2.) In order to enhance tourists’ security, how many attributes does a
guide need to process at least?
3.) Can food poison be avoidable?
4.) Is there any effective measures to secure guests’ property?
5.) When the guest’s property is robbed, where can the guest ask for
help?
Text B
1.) Why is the entertainment a powerful tourism magnet?
2.) Illustrate some entertainment center in your country/city?
3.) What is the entertainment travel like in US?
4.) How do the hotels make shopping convenient?
5.) What roles do the gift souvenir shops play?
2 Speaking . Check- out
Work in pairs. Role play a check-out situation. Student A is a tourist.
Student B is a receptionist at the Admiral Hotel in St Petersburg. Use
these tips, remember to up sell at check-out and try to re-book the guest.
 Check out the guest . Make sure you mention any additional charges.
 Tell the guest about any future festivals or events and try to re-book
them to an upgraded room. If they book a mini-suite, you will get
higher commission.
 Say goodbye to the guest in a polite and friendly way.
3 Writing exercise.
Use the following information to plan a reply to the complaint. Make
a list of the points you want to make then write a reply.
 Thank the person for bringing the matter to you attention
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention
 Express sympathy: We are sorry to hear that…
 Apologize if necessary: We apologize for…/Please accept our
apologies for …
 State what action you will take: Please be assured that we will…
 Remind the reader that his/her relationship with you is important:
We value your custom highly.
Your satisfaction is our priority.
 Make a goodwill gesture if appropriate:
Please fill enclosed a voucher for…
4 Case problems
1.) What should be done if tourists ask the guide to take them to the
places of entertainment that are considered illegal in China?
2.) What should the guide do if asked to help choose a painting or
calligraphy?
3.) How should the guide help tourists choose curios and antiques?
4.) What should be done if a tourist asks the guide to go shopping with
him during the breaks of the trip?