n.
tourist; visitor; sightseer
游客
tourist; visitor; sightseer
Tourist, visitor, or traveler (游 tour/travel + 客 guest); counted with 位 (wèi) or 名 (míng).
Common Usage & Traps
- 外国游客 — foreign tourist
- 很多游客 — many tourists
- 游客很多 — there are many tourists
- 来中国旅游的游客 — tourists who come to travel in China
- 一位游客 — a tourist
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做游客是游客 / 当游客做 usually pairs with jobs or roles you perform, not a temporary travel status.
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很多游客们很多游客很多 already marks a crowd, so adding 们 is redundant and awkward.
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我是旅游我是游客 / 我是来旅游的旅游 is the activity of traveling; it does not name a person.
If tourists check into a hotel, should the front desk call them 游客 or 客人?
游客 sightsees; 客人 is a guest being hosted or served.
游客 is someone visiting a place for fun, like a museum or old town. 客人 is a guest or customer in a host-service relationship. A hotel guest is usually 客人, even if they are traveling. Use 游客 when the sightseeing role is the point. Use 客人 when the hosting or service role is the point.
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Sightseeing at the Forbidden City | 游客 | 客人 |
| Hotel guest checking in | 客人 | 游客 |
| Friend at your home | 客人 | 游客 |
| Tour bus group | 游客 | 客人 |
Why can't you say 我是旅游 to mean 'I'm a tourist'?
旅游 is the activity; 游客 is the person doing it.
旅游 is the activity of traveling. It does not name a person. 游客 names the person who travels for sightseeing. To state your identity, say 我是游客. To state your purpose, say 我是来旅游的. Saying 我是旅游 leaves out the person.
“游客想去喝茶，还要买门票。” (Tourists who want to drink tea even have to buy a ticket.)
“游客想去喝茶，还要买门票。” (Tourists who want to drink tea even have to buy a ticket.)
| Dimension | Natural | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| I'm a tourist | 我是游客。 | 我是旅游。 |
| He is a tourist | 他是游客。 | 他是旅游。 |
| We are here to travel | 我们是来旅游的。 | 我们是旅游。 |
Featured in Story Deep Dive
Follow how this word unfolds across the narrative arc of this graded story.
Ever wondered where old Beijing's tea-drinking culture has gone? Follow a visitor discovering why locals now avoid famous tea houses—and practice expressing surprise and comparisons in Chinese along the way.
- Scene #1
游客 想去喝茶，还要买门票。
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