Strategies for Improving Tourism English Teaching

Tourism is an emerging industry in China, known as the "sunrise industry" and "invisible trade". Though started late, with the rapid development of the national economy, it has been developing at an amazing speed. According to statistics, by the end of 2011, there were 23,690 travel agencies; the number of domestic and foreign tourists has grown exponentially every year. Particularly, inbound and outbound tourism market is booming. Europe, the United States and other English-speaking countries have become major tourist source markets of China; a large number of high-quality foreign tourism practitioners are urgently needed. Thus, tourism English teaching has played a very important role in the training of practitioners who are proficient in English, but also have high level tourism skills. Although at present, the education has accumulated a wealth of experience, has made significant progress, in the actual teaching, there are many problems existing. This article puts forward some constructive suggestions for improvement, combining with the local tourism resources.