 Welcoming the World
Giving great customer service to London’s international visitors
Do you work in a frontline role, meeting and greeting visitors to London? Or would you like to? Do you want to improve the way your business welcomes international customers? London is already attracting millions of visitors every year and with the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games on the horizon, many more will come to our city.
Our initiative ‘Welcoming the World’ is funded by the London Development Agency. It is helping people from across London to understand the expectations of these international visitors from a customer service point of view, and to find out a little about different countries and languages. A range of events and resources can help you go that extra mile.
Events
Our free one-day workshops give you general tips and advice on languages and culture, and help you to learn about particular key countries and the languages spoken there. We are currently scheduling new Welcoming the World events. Watch this space and our Events page for forthcoming workshops.
Resources
The 'Welcoming the World' programme has produced a range of handy resources you can keep using when dealing with international visitors to our city. They are all downloadable from our website and include:
 A guide for giving great customer service to international visitors (1423KB, PDF)
A step-by-step guide to understanding the expectations of visitors from all over the world – and understanding your own views. Full of handy tips, this guide also includes a series of 11 country profiles with specific cultural tips and advice.
Country profiles
 If you have a particular country of interest, you can find individual ‘Welcoming the World’ country profiles in our cultural briefings area.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website also includes a wide range of information about different countries around the world.
Service Finder
If you need more detailed cultural advice for regular visitors from a particular country, or some language training to refresh you skills - or even want to find a job where you get to use your language - make the Service Finder your first stop. It's free to use and easy to search for the language and cultural service you need.
Useful links
BBC Languages – guides to language learning
Foreign and Commonwealth Office - including country profiles
Visit London - London's tourist organisation
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