Tour guides can cater to foreign tourists

Tour guides can cater to foreign tourists

Tour guides should not be blamed over the dwindling number of foreign tourists into the country said Malaysian Tourist Guides Council president Jimmy Leong.

“Several ASEAN countries have seen a drop in arrivals over the past two years especially Japanese and Korean tourists,” he said.

“The world economic situation was a big reason for the drop in arrivals from Korea which was recorded at 250,000 in 2005 but only 78,000 Koreans visited the country last year,” he said.

He added the political instability in Thailand recently did not help the situation.

When asked about a suggestion to improve linguisitic proficiency among the guides to boost tourist arrivals from Korea, Japan, Iran and Russia, Leong dismisses it by saying that there are ample guides who could speak those languages.

Leong, who is also the Johor Tourist Guide Association chairman, said in Johor Baru alone, there are 49 Japanese and 13 Korean-speaking guides.

“We are also embarking on a nationwide survey to gather feedback on the livelihoods of tour guides speaking such languages,” he said.

He said there are a total of 292 tour guides around the country who are proficient in conversing in Japanese, Korean and Arabic respectively.

“The belittling of poor quality tour guides nationwide reflects on the failure of training programs adopted by the Tourism Ministry.

“This is because the process of selection, training, examination and licensing are directly under the purview of the ministry,” he said.

He added that more stringent monitoring of training modules used by institutes was needed to ensure guides are trained professionally.

Last week, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen said that foreign tour guides would be allowed to work here due to the lack of Korean, Japanese, Iranian and Russian speaking tour guides nationwide.

She said that foreign tour guides would be closely monitored by the ministry and would only be allowed into the country when there is a need.

Ng added that the move is a wake-up call for local guides to buck up.

-News courtesy of The Star-