Tour guide in Cleveland, Ohio

[tplunk]

I am interested in acting as a local tour guide for Chinese citizens visiting the Cleveland area or the mid-west region of the U.S.

This is a fantastic area to visit. Very inexpensive. Does anyone know how I could get in touch with travel agencies in China that are booking travelers to ohio?

Do you think this would be of interest to Chinese tourists? I don't speak Mandarin / Chinese.

Thanks, tom

[fanglu]

Can I ask why you only want to guide Chinese tourists? It seems a bit odd given you don't speak Chinese.

Another question, given that travelling to the US isn't exactly cheap, why would anyone choose to go to just Cleveland, Ohio rather than, say, New York, Washington DC, LA, etc.? (No offense intended, I'm sure it's a really nice place; I've just never heard of it so why would I pay thousands of dollars to go there?)

To ask these questions another way: "I'm a Chinese person interested in acting as a tour guide for American tourists to Shenzhen. Oh and by the way I don't speak any English." What problems do you see with this?

[YuehanHao]

Don't think I am trying to controvert fanglu's elegantly stated points one bit, but as a native of the area in question, I am honor bound to point out a few Cleveland landmarks for the edification of all: the rock and roll music hall of fame, the world famous Terminal Tower, Cedar Point amusement park and the pro football hall of fame (both fairly nearby), and of course you have the usual art and science museums and a fairly well-known orchestra based there too.

While we should always expect the volume of Chinese tourism to Ohio, Home of 8 U.S. Presidents, to be much lower than the trite and overpriced main draws like New York and LA, tom isn't alone in thinking that such a market could exist, for the official tourism website for Cleveland is soon to be translated into Chinese! :

http://www.positivelycleveland.com/visiting/international

So there you go, fanglu, in case you wished to learn more about (in either English or maybe soon Chinese too) and perhaps one day visit a great international city.

You know if Chinese tourism to Cleveland does improbably take off someday, I would love to quit my current job and become the local guide for a day trip to nearby Lorain, Ohio, showing off shuttered steel mills, auto plants, schools, and hospitals, boarded up downtown buildings, cheap bars, and maybe even Toni Morrison's childhood home to thousands of Chinese in broken, unintelligible Mandarin! Ah well, best leave myself and my hometown out of it!

Just having a little fun there / No offense meant to tom or fanglu / Way to go Ohio!

约翰好