Actions implemented by the number one tourist destination in the World to adjust to foreign visitors

Who never felt lost arriving in a new country? Whether as a tourist or as a new inhabitant, the first moments spent in an unknown environment (using, most of the time, a different language) are always a little bit confusing. In most cases help is needed and really appreciated. This is what this article is about: this kind of adjustments that a city can do, to make it likeable and enjoyable to visitors.

As we previously saw, Paris gives great importance to welcoming foreign visitors. That is why the city implements agreements, events and actions to help foreigners to adjust to and fit in the Parisian life.

For example, the city gives a 7 million Euros grant per year to the Paris tourist office that implemented several reception centers especially in train stations and airports where tourists flow abundantly.

In the following article, we will list the diverse actions put in place by the city of Paris to improve the quality of reception of visitors.

Reception center of the Paris tourist office in Roissy airport

With seasonal kiosks, the “Ambassadeurs de l’accueil” (“The welcoming Ambassadors”) operation, organized by the city of Paris and Paris tourist office, has been created in particular to promote the city summer program. It has now been running for several summers in a row. Those kiosks are located in most popular places and seasonal workers speaking 15 different languages in total are here to help and inform tourists. The objective of this operation is to enable visitors to live in contact with Parisians people and make Parisians benefit from exchanges with different cultures (Parisservices2, 2005).

An agreement between the city and the police prefecture exists regarding the reception of tourists to facilitate their administrative procedures.

A similar agreement has also been created regarding the welcoming of foreign students in 2012 between the city of Paris, the international university estate of Paris and Paris CROUS (in France the CROUS offers a varied range of services to students). The objective is to facilitate the arrival of foreign students by implementing a welcoming service of foreign students. A welcoming multilingual team (speaking English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Arabic, Greek, Russian and Chinese) specially trained to answer questions related to student mobility is at the foreign students disposal for the three first months of the academic year. Depending on their requests, students will then be directed to public services present all year long: the Police Prefecture of Paris, The French Office for immigration and integration, health insurances, etc. (Dossier de Presse – Cité internationale universitaire de Paris, 2012).

With the “Label Paris co-développement sud”, Paris city hall support Parisian cultural diversity. Created in 2006, the “Paris Label south co-development” is a call for projects dedicated to international solidarity associative projects running by migrants or in close collaboration with them. This action completes the traditional financing of NGOs, supporting projects that reinforce the integration of foreign populations in Paris. Through this action, Paris highlights migrants associations, which significant number reflects the cultural diversity of the city.

This year will be the 8^th edition ran by the city of Paris. Last year, in 2012, 53 Parisian associations applied to this project, 9 of them were selected in diverse areas such as education, culture, human rights, economics, etc. Winning projects got grants from 5000 to 13000 Euros offered by the city. Were rewarded initiatives that had a double impact, one on the development of the countries of origin and one on the foreign population integration in Paris.

Among events that contribute to make living together easier in Paris, we can mention the celebration of important foreign events like Chinese, Vietnamese and Berber new years. Indeed, this year, on February 8^th, the city of Paris decided to celebrate, with Parisian people that come from China and Vietnam, their respective new year. On January 14^th, for the 8^th consecutive year, Paris celebrated Berber new year, with Parisian people with Berber origin.

These festive gatherings are open to everyone and are unique moments of cultural sharing, grouping more than 100,000 people.

 

We should also note the many voluntary initiatives aiming to bring residents and visitors together thanks to collaborative tourism with the association “Parisien d’un jour, Parisien toujours - Paris Greeter” (meaning “Parisian for a day, Parisian forever”). This association offers free trips to foreign visitors or from other part of France wishing to discover the Paris of Parisians people. Volunteers are enthusiastic and friendly locals that make visitors discover their neighborhood to small groups (up to 6 people). Visitors can subscribe to this service registering on the association website that is available in French, English, Spanish and German: www.parisgreeters.fr

Just in case you wondering what is collaborative tourism, here is how we could define it: Collaborative tourism involves the host population in tourist activities or engages visitors in the local life of the region visited. It is one way to rethink the relationship between tourists and residents and to reinvent the meaning of hospitality (Voyageons-autrement.com, 2013).

And the list goes on...

The point of this article was just to let you know what kind of adjustments can be made to make foreign visitors feel more welcome and facilitate their integration to the local culture.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on what other actions could be implemented please share them with us ;)

References :

Dossier de Presse – Cité internationale universitaire de Paris. 2012. Paris accueille les étudiants du monde.

Retrieved from: http://193.52.24.107/Communication/dossier_presse_SAEE2012.pdf

Paris.fr. 2012. Lettre d’information de l’action internationale de la Ville de Paris.

Retrieved from: http://www.paris.fr/politiques/paris-a-l-international/lettre-d-information-de-l-action-internationale-de-la-ville-de-paris/rub_6585_stand_94597_port_14967

Paris.fr. Mars 2005. ParisServices2, Priorité à l’accueil.

Retrieved from: http://www.paris.fr/accueil/Portal.lut?page=search&page_id=1&cx=015152867896687340997%3Alx_rdp-dgo8&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=parisservices&go=RECHERCHE

Paris Greeters. 2013.

Retrieved from: http://www.parisgreeters.fr/?lang=en

Voyageons-autrement.com. 2013. Tourisme participative et voyage alternatif.

Retrieved from: http://www.voyageons-autrement.com/index/tourisme-participatif/

 

 

 

The Canadian Mosaic in the Workplace

On the 8^th of October 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to declare multiculturalism as its state policy, and the Broadcasting Act of 1991 asserts that the Canadian system should reflect the diversity of cultures in the country (Kymlicka, 2012).

Through some examples and testimonies of employees from Canadian companies, we will try to understand and illustrate how the Canadian mosaic is present and important in the professional world.

Canadian corporations not only have a moral responsibility to embrace diversity in hiring, it makes good business sense, the head of TD Bank Group says. Moreover, public companies have the duty to hire employees with best skills and practices, while keeping in mind that in a country as multicultural as Canada, the hiring process must be inclusive (Yew, 2012). A study held by Cedric Herring, professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, suggests that diversity produces tangible benefits for a business. According to the analysis companies with high racial diversity were more likely to report higher-than-average market share (72%) and profitability (72%), compared to companies with medium diversity (66% and 61%) and low diversity (54% and 52%) (Amble, 2006).

Of course when a hiring person from diverse horizons is a plus to a company that is working with diverse country, but also it can bring a rich diverse environment to the employees. For example, Fiona Easton,

manager of diversity and inclusiveness at TELUS, is talking about Multiculturalism Day in Canada, and how she discovered with her friends a new gastronomy thanks to one of her colleges. “The idea to try stuffed grape leaves came to me from Michel Selim, a member of our TELUS Diversity & Inclusiveness Council.  During one of our conversations, Michel mentioned one of his favorite dishes his mother makes is stuffed grape leaves – which remind him of his childhood in Syria. In travelling to many countries around the world, I have had the privilege to experience unique and fascinating cultures.  Allowing ourselves to OPEN OUR MINDS to different traditions, we LEARN, GROW and GAIN NEW PERSPECTIVES ̶   seeing opportunities and possibilities we may have otherwise overlooked.”  What Fiona is saying here is that diversity always brings something new to our perceptive, and in a professional environment it is essential to have as many perceptive and ideas as possible in order to be unique and also to always renew the service the company is offering.  Diversity brings progress especially in a country like Canada (Easton, 2012).

Tim Horton is one of the favorite brand Canadian people cherish. This coffee company created in 1964, counts today more than 3000 stores in the country (Loppinot, 2010).

In a TV spot the company released during the Olympic games, we can understand  how unique the Canadian culture is:

This commercial is a good illustration of the multiculturalism policy in Canada, by showing an Afro-American man welcoming his family who apparently came to live in the country for the first time.

M. Barefoot who commented on this TV ad said:” My American friends explained that this commercial would never, ever air in the United States. They said that there’s simply too much ill will and anger around immigration. It would mean corporate suicide for a big company to run this piece in the States.” This is a good example of Tim Horton’s strategy to attract all kind of Canadian inhabitants and we can see here the unique Canadian culture and how it can be different from the American one. (Barefoot, 2010).

Ophélie Bourgeois

Sources:

 Amble, B. (2006, August 17). More diversity brings increased profitability. Récupéré sur Management-issues: http://www.management-issues.com/news/3503/more-diversity-brings-increased-profitability/

Barefoot, D. (2010, February 24). Tim Hortons and the Immigrant Experience. Récupéré sur DarrenBareFoot.com: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2010/02/tim-hortons-and-the-immigrant-experience.html

Easton, F. (2012). How I’ll be celebrating Canadian Multiculturalism Day. Récupéré sur Telus: http://blog.telus.com/community/how-ill-be-celebrating-canadian-multiculturalism-day/

Kymlicka, W. (2012, February). Multiculturalism: Success, Failure, and the Future. Récupéré sur Migration Policy: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/multiculturalism.pdf

Loppinot, D. d. (2010, January). Top 15 des meilleurs franchises. Récupéré sur MSN Finance: http://finances.ca.msn.com/photos/galeriedephotos.aspx?cp-documentid=23189475&page=3

Yew, M. A.-T. (2012, October 3). Diversity makes good business sense: TD Bank boss. Récupéré sur thestar.com: http://www.thestar.com/business/2012/10/03/diversity_makes_good_business_sense_td_bank_boss.html