CHINA TOPIX

05/19/2024 06:08:54 pm

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15 London Tourist Spots Get Chinese Names

The Shard

The sun is reflected off The Shard in London. The Shard has been given a Chinese name, 'Lun Dun Zhui', which means London cone. REUTERS/Eddie Keogh

As part of the United Kingdom's effort to lure more Chinese tourists into England, at least 15 London attractions and locations have been given new Mandarin Names.

The Shard, is named 'Lun Dun Zhui', meaning London cone, King's Cross St Pancras is known as 'Mo Fa Huo Che Zhan', meaning Magic station, in reference to Harry Potter, while Savile Row, the famous men's fashion tailoring street, is named 'Gao Fu Shuai Zhi Lu', meaning tall, rich, handsome Street, in refers to a phrase in China to describe the perfect man.

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The 'GREAT Names for GREAT Britain' campaign was done over ten weeks of voting across China, the world's top outbound tourism market.

The campaign is VisitBritain's biggest ever marketing campaign in China, reaching nearly 300 million potential Chinese tourists via the national tourism agency's influential Weibo and WeChat platforms in China.

Over 30 million Chinese watched the launch of the video and at least 13,000 new names were suggested for the 15 tourist spots in London.

During the entire campaign period, The Shard received the most number of suggested names, a total of 406 while Savile Row had the second highest number of votes in the whole campaign - 30,039.

"We want Britain to be the most attractive and welcoming destination for Chinese travellers in Europe," said Joss Croft, Marketing Director at VisitBritain.

Croft added that VisitBritain aims to make Britain to be the most attractive and welcoming destination for Chinese travellers in Europe.

"The naming campaign has given these London locations and landmarks huge exposures across China and created a new affinity with potential tourists," said Croft.

Major countries around the world are rolling out their marketing and promotional materials to further entice Chinese tourists to visit. For this year alone, experts forecast at least 100 million Chinese will travel abroad, the biggest among any country around the world.

Not only are Chinese travelling by millions this year, their tourism spending is also expected to rise, sources said.

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