UNDERSTANDING the behaviour of Chinese visitors will lead to Cairns cash registers ringing, says an expert.

Travconsult’s Trevor Lee is hosting a culture and customer service workshop in Cairns next week to help business operators understand and benefit from the increasing number of Chinese visitors and tourists expected in the Far North this year.

The workshop has been timed before the arrival of an estimated 14,000 Chinese from February 12 for the Chinese new year on 14 charter flights direct into Cairns as well as from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Mr Lee said it was crucial for operators and their staff to understand and accept the behaviour of their visitors.

"The biggest thing is that the Chinese are often perceived as rude in their manners, loud, they might even push in and may even spit," he said.

"It is important that we don’t take it personally and accept their different behaviour and put on a smile, be welcoming and polite."

Mr Lee said this behaviour was part and parcel of life in a country of 1.3 billion people who were unsophisticated and not used to the ways of the Western world.

He said the behaviour was not intentional.

Mr Lee said frontline people had to expect and learn how to handle the "pushy" ways of the Chinese.

"If they push in, just smile, ask them to wait," he said.

For details visit Travconsult's website.

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