JOHOR BAHRU: According to the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council, there are more than enough Chinese-speaking tour guides in Malaysia to handle the country’s large increase in Chinese tourists.
According to its president Jimmy Leong, the number of Chinese visitors has significantly increased since the 30-day visa-free regime went into effect.
Though there were early worries about a possible scarcity of tour guides—especially during Chinese New Year—the council has been able to match tour groups with qualified guides.
When the issues were brought forward, Minister of Tourism, Arts, and Culture Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing issued an order to call a meeting to discuss the issue.
“As of now, we can meet the demand,” Leong, the chairman of the Johor Tourist Guides Association, stated.
He said that Malaysia has an excess of Chinese-speaking tour guides, rather than just enough of them.
He did point out that there is a dearth of English-speaking tour guides in the business.
The current state of education is such that there is a dearth of people who are skilled in English but an abundance of people who are proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin.
“Even though having these languages is crucial to meeting visitor demand, there are worries about how it may affect the supply of tour guides who speak English down the road,” Leong stated.
“We’ve noticed this in Johor when we take school groups from Singapore on educational tours,” he said.
Leong continued by saying that since a similar program that allows 30-day visa-free travel, the number of Indian tourists visiting the nation has also been steadily increasing.
“The majority of Indian tour groups prefer to have guides who speak English fluently; only a small percentage require guides who speak Tamil or Hindi” – The star
