Destinations known | In China’s Hubei province, tourism workers are being taught how to smile

If, over the course of 2020, you have forgotten how to crack one, take heed of the “Specification of smiling service in tourist scenic spots” guidelines published by China’s Hubei province.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the “Service with a Smile manual, which reads somewhat like a dry legal document” was put together “to lure back visitors after the coronavirus outbreak”. The handbook, which can be viewed online, has been distributed among Hubei’s tourism industry workers and outlines “standards for facial expressions and how workers should communicate with visitors”, reports digital magazine Sixth Tone. Smiling should be undertaken “genuinely and naturally, with your teeth showing”.

Still, there’s no time like the present to work on some self-improvement, especially when the Lunar New Year break is approaching and with it the opportunity to appeal to a captive domestic market and make up for the lost business of 2020. So, in addition to instructing employees how to smile – “the face should be natural and relaxed, with the corners of the mouth slightly upward”, according to ABC – the manual offers advice on how to behave in various tourism-related scenarios.

Sixth Tone’s translation reads “[Employees] should look kind, sincere and energetic while attentively answering questions, without staring too long”. Exactly how long is too long is not made explicit, unlike the advice on how to help tourists find what they are looking for.

“When giving directions to visitors, fingers should be naturally together, palm side up 45 degrees,” writes ABC, citing the handbook, which continues: “When directing the approaching target, the arm is at an angle to the body of 120 degrees-150 degrees; arms should keep straight when directing distant targets, eyes should focus on the visitor and the target, while using smiles in conversations.” Easy.