The traditional Chinese rice porridge, called congee, will soon become a staple of hotel breakfast buffets in America and abroad as U.S.-based hotel chains compete for growing numbers of Chinese travelers.

　　随着美国的连锁酒店竞相招徕人数不断增长的中国游客，中国传统食物大米粥很快将成为美国等国酒店早餐的常见食品。

　　The Chinese dish is part of a set of broader initiatives to attract Chinese travelers at hotel giants Hilton Worldwide Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. This summer, both hotel companies are rolling out hospitality standards centered on items that cater to Chinese guests in hotels across the world.

　　Hilton Worldwide位于旧金山金融区的希尔顿酒店提供包括早餐粥在内的一系列中式服务。美国酒店业巨头希尔顿（Hilton Worldwide Inc.）和喜达屋（Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide）为吸引中国游客推出了一系列措施，提供中餐服务是其中的一部分。今年夏天，这两家公司将围绕专门迎合中国游客的服务内容制定相关接待标准。

　　Starwood plans to announce a program Monday called "Starwood Personalized Travel," which will require the company's 1,051 hotels -- including the Sheratons, Westin and W chains -- to offer a set of specific services for Chinese travelers, including in-room tea kettles, slippers and translation services, in addition to new menu items.

　　喜达屋计划周一宣布一项被称作“喜达屋个性化旅游”的项目，它将要求公司旗下喜来登（Sheraton）、威斯汀（Westin）和W等连锁酒店的1,051家酒店针对中国游客提供一系列特别服务，除供应专门迎合他们口味的新菜品和食品外，还要给他们的客房配备电热壶和拖鞋，并向他们提供翻译服务。

　　The program will start at 19 hotels in cities such as New York, London, Mexico City, Seoul and San Francisco, where Chinese business is rapidly growing. The program will cover all Starwood hotels by the end of next year, the company said.

　　这一项目将从纽约、伦敦、墨西哥城、首尔和旧金山等城市的19座酒店开始实施，这些城市的中国游客数量正在迅速增长。喜达屋说，到明年年底时，该项目将覆盖到它旗下的所有酒店。

　　Hilton on Monday plans to announce a program for its Hilton Hotels brand called 'Hilton Huanying' -- from the Chinese word for 'welcome.' Hilton hotels can opt into the program. Those that do -- 30 so far -- must provide a front desk worker fluent in Mandarin and a Chinese television station, as well as a full Chinese breakfast including dim sum, congee and fried dough fritters, among other items. It will begin in August.

　　希尔顿计划于周一宣布，它旗下各希尔顿酒店将实施一项被称作“希尔顿欢迎”的项目，各家酒店可自愿选择参加。那些选择参与该项目的酒店（目前有30家左右）必须配备一名汉语普通话流利的前台工作人员并开通一家中文电视台的电视节目，还需提供完整的中餐早餐服务，所供应食品包括点心、粥和油条等。这一项目将从八月份起实施。

　　"Chinese travel is going to provide one of the great opportunities that we'll ever see in the business," said Hilton Chief Executive Chris Nassetta.

　　希尔顿的首席执行长纳赛塔（Chris Nassetta）说，中国人的旅行需求将为酒店业提供其有史以来最大的商机之一。

　　Marriott International Inc., meanwhile, is planning a new Chinese breakfast program in the U.S. this fall that will include information for hotels on how to create a Chinese breakfast.

　　与此同时，另一家酒店业巨头万豪国际集团（Marriott International Inc.）正计划今天秋天在美国推出一个新的中式早餐项目，其内容包括向旗下酒店提供如何做中式早餐的信息。

　　Chinese foreign travel is still a small segment of overall global travel. But these moves by hotel companies signal the growing importance that Chinese travelers are expected to have in the coming years for the travel industry. They reflect both the leap in China's economy and the loosening of restrictions on travel since as recently as a decade ago, when Chinese were not allowed by their government to visit most countries.

　　中国人的海外旅行目前依然只占全球总旅行量的一小部分。但酒店业巨头采取的上述行动显示，对旅游业来说，中国游客未来预计将具有越来越大的重要性。这既是中国经济快速发展的反映，也缘于中国近10年来不断放松的海外旅行限制。从10年前起，中国政府开始允许本国公民前往世界上大多数国家。

　　"Outbound travel from Chinese is the next wave," said Starwood CEO Frits van Paasschen.

　　喜达屋首席执行长范帕萨岑（Frits van Paasschen）说，接下来将出现中国人赴海外旅游的热潮。

　　The changes in part follow a script from the 1980s. As Japan's economy boomed, hotels in many cities in the U.S. and around the world added Japanese breakfast items such as rice, dried seaweed, pickled vegetables and miso soup to their menus.

　　这些变化和上世纪80年代的情况多少有些相似。当时，随着日本经济的蓬勃发展，美国许多城市和世界各地的酒店将日本早餐常见的膳食，比如米饭、干海带、腌制蔬菜和酱汤加入了酒店菜单。

　　The Starwood and Hilton Chinese programs are more formal and reach across their portfolio of hotels. Attracting the new travelers is also urgent priority as growth in travel dollars from many markets softens.

　　喜达屋和希尔顿的中国项目更为正式，项目涉及旗下所有酒店品牌。吸引新的游客也是这些酒店的当务之急，因为在许多市场，游客带来的收入增长开始放缓。

　　Global hotel brands have seen significant pick-up this year following deep declines during the downturn. However the boost has been far greater in Asia than other regions, reflecting in large part the growth of travel among Chinese.

　　在经济衰退期间业务量大幅缩减之后，今年全球主要酒店品牌的业务量都呈现了长足回升的态势。但亚洲地区的业务增长远远高于其它地区，这在很大程度上反映了中国人出行数量的增加。

　　In the first quarter of 2011, for example, Marriott saw revenue per available room in Asia increase 17.2% compared to 5.8% in North America.

　　比如今年一季度，万豪发现旗下亚洲酒店每间客房的收入增加了17.2%。相比之下，北美地区这一数字只有5.8%。

　　According to the U.S. Travel Association, 802,000 mainland Chinese residents visited the U.S. in 2010, a 53% increase over the prior year. In 2005 just 270,000 Chinese people visited the U.S. The Department of Commerce expects those numbers to reach 994,000 in 2011. The U.S. received $5 billion from Chinese visitors, according to the Association, a 40% increase over 2009.

　　据美国旅游协会（U.S. Travel Association）透露，2010年，共有80.2万中国内地居民到访美国，较上年同期增加53%。在2005年这一数字还只有27万。美国商务部预计2011年这一数字将上升到99.4万人。美国旅游协会说，美国从中国游客身上获得了50亿美元的收入，较2009年增加了40%。

　　Japanese visitation in 2010 was much larger -- around 3.1 million. Yet the trends are divergent. From 2006 through 2009 travel from Japan declined each year, finally in 2009 reaching the lowest point since 1988, according to the Travel Association.

　　相比之下，到访美国的日本游客的数量要多得多，大约为310万人次。但这一人数趋势也不固定。据美国旅游协会介绍，从2006年到2009年，赴美旅游的日本游客数量逐年下降，到2009年这一数字达到了自1988年以来的最低水平。

　　After Starwood executives noticed an enormous recent jump in the number of Chinese subscribing to Starwood's loyalty program, a team led by Matt Gaghen, Starwood's vice president of brand management, spent the last year researching the Chinese market and discovered that language and food were two of the most important issues for Chinese travelers.

　　喜达屋的高层管理人员在注意到申请喜达屋常客计划的中国客人的数量最近出现激增之后，该集团负责品牌管理的副总裁嘉庚（Matt Gaghen）领导的一个团队在去年全年专门研究了中国市场，他们发现服务语言和酒店膳食是中国游客选择酒店时最重要的两个因素。

　　As such, all Starwood hotels are to beginning efforts to hire at least one person on staff who speaks a Chinese language. Chinese guests will receive a note from the general manager translated into Chinese that offers the amenities available to them, such as tea kettles, razors, toothbrushes and combs.

　　因此，喜达屋旗下所有酒店将开始招聘至少一名会说中文的工作人员。入住酒店的中国客人将收到一份翻译成中文的总经理欢迎信，信中列明了酒店提供的便利设施，比如茶壶、剃须刀、牙刷和梳子。

　　Since Starwood generally doesn't own hotels but sets standards for them, the changes could mean a cost increase for hotel owners in some places that don't yet see many Chinese travelers.

　　由于总的来说，喜达屋不拥有自己的酒店，只是为被其管理的酒店设置标准，上述变化可能意味着在那些还没有很多中国游客的地区，酒店业主的成本会增加。

　　"We're planning and investing in this to get ahead and to appeal to Chinese at the outset," Mr. Gaghen said.

　　嘉庚说，我们计划并投资这个项目只是为了从一开始就领先对手并吸引中国游客。