Receiving Tourists When overseas tourists travel to you, you need to be extra attentive. From the moment they arrive, your guests should feel welcome. You should be waiting at the airport to greet them when their plane lands. Prearranged transportation will take them to the hotel, and you‘ll make sure they settle in comfortably. The purpose of your greeting is to establish or maintain a friendly contact, and the purpose of good manners is to make your foreign guests feel comfortable. There is some preparation work to do before receiving a group. You should be familiar with the schedule, call first and reconfirm when and where the group will arrive. You can ask the information office at the airport for actual arrival time of the flight, to schedule two hours ahead. You should be familiar with the group’s tour leaders and the travel agency. You will need to get data on the group. P reparation of tools such as tour guide card, microphone, guiding banner are among the things you may need. The most important thing is to keep heavy traffic into account, reaching the meeting place at least half an hour ahead of schedule and be waiting for the guests to come. There are some activities for you to do while waiting for the guests. It is necessary to meet the bus driver in advance, double-check the route, and sign the bus rental bill. Stay in contact with the driver, check where the bus is parked and inform the driver of the itinerary. Make sure that your tour bus can find a place to park close enough to the terminal so that the tourists don’t have to walk far. Also, you need to get in touch with the porters, confirm the place where the checked luggage will be handed over and where the luggage will be delivered. It is always essential for the tour guide to be familiar with the airport terminal, including the lost luggage claims. If there is any alteration, the guide should read the new schedule and the notice of the alteration very carefully. For example, if the flight timetable has been changed, but the guide does not check the new timetable, and still goes to pick up the group, when the group of tourists actually arrives at the transportation port, the local guide will not be available. If the local guide misses the group, he/ she should solve the problem on the spot. They must report to the travel agency immediately, reconfirming when and where the group will arrive. Then try to contact the group leader or their partner directly, so that they can find the group as soon as possible. Also, they should make an apology to the guests and explain the reason why they missed the group. It is smart to provide some extra service to make up for the inconvenience occurred to the guests. The local guide should also try and improve their work performance to insure the understanding from the guests. Decide whether the following statements are true or false .