Langkawi Gazette

Tour guides against move to allow foreign workers

Monday July 19, 2010 / forwarded by Pishol Ishak

Local tour guides have objected to Tourism Ministry’s proposal to allow foreign tour guides to work in Malaysia.

Representatives from 12 tour guide associations nationwide expressed their dissatisfaction during a tour guide council meeting in Malacca on Saturday.

Langkawi Tourist Guides Asso­ciation chairman A. Gunasagaran said if foreign tour guides were allowed to work here, it should be on condition that they attend familiarisation courses,

“They must also register themselves as members of tourist associations here,’’ he said.

Published: Tuesday July 13, 2010  original 'The Star Online'

Foreign tour guides can work in M’sia on case-by-case basis
By NG CHENG YEE

KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign tour guides will soon be allowed to work in Malaysia on a case-by-case basis to address the shortage of guides speaking foreign languages, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.
She said currently, there was a shortage of Malaysian tour guides who could speak Japanese, Korean, Iranian and Russian and this had caused a drop of these tourists from these countries.

“For example, there were 250,000 Koreans who visited Malaysia in 2005 but the number had dropped to 78,000 last year.

“We have no choice but to bring in foreign tour guides because very few Malaysian tour guides can speak these languages, which is the main reason for the sharp reduction in tourists from these countries,” she told a press conference after a dialogue session with tourism industry players here Tuesday.

She said this was a wake-up call for local tour guides to buck up and learn more foreign languages to cater the need of tourists from these countries. 
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