The Confucius Institute is a non-profit organisation and one of the world’s most influential Mandarin learning institutions with over 500 centres in 6 continents. The Dragon Trip’s COO, William Ace Rowles was recently invited to be one of the panellists at The Confucius Institute’s first Global Confucius Institute Shandong Culture & Tourism Summit. We sat down with him to ask about his experience being one of the speakers at the event.
What is the Confucius Institute?
The Confucius Institute is a non-profit government organization that aims to promote Chinese culture and language internationally.
Why should people consider Shandong as a travel destination?
Shandong is the home of Confucius, the home of Qingdao Beer and a great stop between Beijing and Shanghai. For those on a shorter trip to China, it provides a good opportunity to see the roads less travelled.
Why do you think you were invited to speak at this event?
We were invited to this event as we are one of the premier providers of Educational Tours in China. Shandong is a fantastic cultural destination, and one of the Confucius Institute’s main aims is to get more people learning Mandarin. The event was a great mix of both education and travel professionals, so as we sit on both sides of these industries we were a fitting choice!
What were the key talking points for your speech?
The main aims I focused on were ways of engaging more young tourists to come over to Shandong, and how the Confucius Institute can do more to help. My main thoughts were about increasing partnerships between sister schools and international schools. This is a great way for students to come and spend a substantial amount of time in the province and it also enables regular return visitors.
Did you feel nervous about speaking in front of so many people?
It is always a bit nerve-wracking speaking in front of so many talented and bright people! However, if you are confident and clearly plan your points generally you can get through it!
How does Dragon Trip and The Learning Adventure fit into all of this?
As we provide educational tours with our brand The Learning Adventure we can, help to assist tourism bureaus in achieving their goals with more exchange in this vast growing area. Furthermore, with The Dragon Trip we focus on more off the beaten exploration and engaging with adventure travel. As Shandong is not on the tourist trail so much, we hope that with our discussions with how to make Shandong interesting to a younger audience can help.
It seems that you’ve been getting a lot of press coverage recently! What kinds of other events have you and The Dragon Trip/The Learning Adventure been invited to?
I was also invited to Tianshui in Gansu province for a tourism conference that also marked their annual festival celebrating Fuxi and Nüwa. These are two characters from Chinese Mythology, Fuxi is known for creating humanity and the story has a likeness to the that of Adam and Eve. The whole event was quite a spectacle.
If you had to point to one or two reasons, why do you think we are invited to these conferences? What are we doing right?
Firstly, I think as our type of travel is quite specialized. I believe we bring knowledge that is very beneficial to tourism boards looking to expand in those areas. Secondly, as a foreign-run business based in China, I believe we also have a few different insights that are always good to compare and contrast with local organizations.
What were your biggest takeaways, both professionally and personally, from these conferences and events?
For me, it was interesting to meet like-minded professionals and learn how other organizations operate. Furthermore, it is always lovely to be invited to such an event as I think it is a testament to the great work our organisation is doing.
Is there a Confucius quote that you’d like to leave us with?
“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”
A special thank you to Will for this interview about his experience as a panellist!
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