By Crystal Chung @crystalkchung
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As Spain’s international tourist sector continues to prosper, a significant contribution to the number of people coming from China has just been made by Li Jinyuan, the founder and owner of the Tiens Group.
The 3,000 tourists arrived to Madrid’s Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport on Thursday 5 April.
On Friday evening they all joined together at the Puerta del Angel to celebrate Tien Group’s 21st anniversary, which included the entire workforce unfolding the “Flag of Peace” - a 60m x 100m silk flag proclaiming the words “PEACE AND PROGRESS”.
During the event there were also thank you speeches to the city of Madrid as well as the staff being served 202 pans of paella with the evening ending with a traditional flamenco dance and a Chinese calligraphy performance.
After being treated to traditional Spanish food for the last few days, the 3000 tourists also decided to have a lunch consisting of food a little closer to home.
Hundreds of the workforce made their way to Shangrila Chinese Buffet in Madrid were they fuelled up on chow mein, dim sum and other Chinese dumplings before continuing on their sightseeing around the Spanish capital.
Unfortunately the generous boss behind Tiens’ annual trips was unable to make this particular Spanish holiday as he is due to meet with China’s highest national department of Special Health Committees.
Although Li could not make the trip, he sent his eldest son Li Zong Ming along with the Vice President of Tiens Group, Tian’ Ao Liu.
“For us this is a small trip for the company and there will be many other trips to come and hopefully the president will be able to join us on them.
Li Zong Ming said: “We do these trips to thank all of our employee for their support and hard work, unfortunately we cannot take all of our staff due to the capacities of the countries we visit so it can be difficult to have everyone here and this is why we have less staff on this Madrid trip than last year’s France trip.”
On their final day in Madrid the Tiens Group Chinese tourists descended on one of Madrid’s most popular and expensive department stores, El Corte Ingles for a shopping trip like no other.
The workforce were seen wearing their matching blue t-shirts and hats as they shopped around big brands such as Burberry, Prada and Coach.
One of the staff members Miss Xiao Ming, 28 said: “I love Madrid, the city is so clean and the shopping is amazing. There are so many brands that you can buy here that we don’t get back at home.”
The week long holiday takes Tiens Group approximately eight months to plan with staff being chosen by their work performance for the year.
In September 2016, the Tiens Group will be swapping their tourist trainers for flip flops as the staff will be treated to yet another trip, with 6,500 of them heading off to Bali, Indonesia.