From 6 to 9 August, the ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) held the Chinese Language Training and Tourism Capacity Building Online Workshop of ASEAN 2024. Secretary General Shi Zhongjun of the ACC addressed the opening ceremony. Ambassador Djauhari Oratmangun of Indonesia to China delivered a video message. More than 800 tourism practitioners from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam participated in the Workshop. Director Hadi Tjahjono of Education, Culture and Tourism of the ACC moderated the opening ceremony.

SG Shi stated that 2024 has been designated as the ASEAN-China Year of People-to-people Exchanges, and tourism boasts unprecedented potentials and vitality as a powerful driving force to strengthen bilateral people-to-people exchanges. SG Shi reviewed the significant achievements in ASEAN-China tourism cooperation. He encouraged the participants to continuously improve their communication skills in Chinese language and tourism-related capacity, take actions to promote people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between ASEAN and China, and contribute to ASEAN-China relations.

Ambassador Djauhari Oratmangun commended the ACC’s role in actively promoting ASEAN-China tourism cooperation and exchanges. He introduced the remarkable increase in the number of two-way tourists between ASEAN and China this year, and highlighted earnest expectations from ASEAN countries to welcome the Chinese tourists. This timely Workshop has better deepened  tourism cooperation and promoted people-to-people exchanges between both sides.

The Chinese Language Training and Tourism Capacity Building Online Workshop of ASEAN is one of the flagship projects of the ACC. The 2024 Workshop provided language courses, tour guide service skills training and scenic areas service improvement, aiming to comprehensively enhance participants’ proficiency in Chinese language and tourism-related capacity, and bring ASEAN-China tourism cooperation to a new height.