Chinese-speaking Thai guides take to Phuket streets

[webfact]

Chinese-speaking local guides take to the streets

By Kritsada Mueanhawong

 

 

More than 100 Chinese-speaking Thai tour guides have today protested and filed an official complaint to tour companies to stop supporting illegal tour guides. The complaints have become a regular fixture in the PR game between tour guides and the provincial officials.

 

This morning about 100 Chinese-speaking Phuket tour guides protested by walking along the road in Wichit and handing out letters to tours companies not to support illegal tour guides.

 

The leaflet stated states “to every tour company in Phuket”.

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/chinese-speaking-local-guides-take-to-the-streets

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2018-11-20

[hkt83100]

The one on the extreme right seems to have problems with Thai language, judging by the way he is holding the sign ????

[Lingba]

...and suddenly Thailand has Thai people that speak Chinese...how amazing!....

[NamKangMan]

 

I can not see one Thai female in the photos.

 

Perhaps, scamming Chinese tourists is an occupation reserved for Thai males only.   ????

[simoh1490]

There are hundreds if not thousands of Chinese speaking Thai tour guides, male and female and there has been so for at least a couple of years, all you have to do is look and ask.

[thaibutty]

I wonder if they are more qualified and motivated than the one German speaking Thai guide I once hired for visiting friends. 
Demanded 3000 Baht for one day, barely spoke any German at all and instead of giving my friends some relevant information about the temples they were visiting she made them stop at Wang Thalang, a Latex shop and a cashew nut factory, despite their protest that they did not want to see any of these places. Later she (yes, a female guide) complained to me that they didn`t buy anything and asked how she was supposed to make any money from the job.

 

While there for sure are some crooks amongst the expats here, I am sure that if foreigners would be allowed to work as guides most would do a 100x better job than most of the so called local "guides"

 

[simoh1490]

40 minutes ago, thaibutty said:

I wonder if they are more qualified and motivated than the one German speaking Thai guide I once hired for visiting friends. 
Demanded 3000 Baht for one day, barely spoke any German at all and instead of giving my friends some relevant information about the temples they were visiting she made them stop at Wang Thalang, a Latex shop and a cashew nut factory, despite their protest that they did not want to see any of these places. Later she (yes, a female guide) complained to me that they didn`t buy anything and asked how she was supposed to make any money from the job.

 

While there for sure are some crooks amongst the expats here, I am sure that if foreigners would be allowed to work as guides most would do a 100x better job than most of the so called local "guides"

 

Next time you or your friends hire a tour guide, make sure they are licensed by the government and that they are certified, they are all required to carry and display ID around their necks that confirms the fact. If you are unhappy with the service you receive from a licensed tour guide you can file a complaint with the Tour Guide Association and it will be investigated I know for certain. It is also against the rules under which they are licensed for them to take commissions in the way you have described, most of the ones that I have met are actually very proud of their status and their role. But of course, if you simply hire somebody who says they are a tour guide when they are not licensed, caveat emptor.

[thaibutty]

6 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Next time you or your friends hire a tour guide, make sure they are licensed by the government and that they are certified, they are all required to carry and display ID around their necks that confirms the fact. If you are unhappy with the service you receive from a licensed tour guide you can file a complaint with the Tour Guide Association and it will be investigated I know for certain. It is also against the rules under which they are licensed for them to take commissions in the way you have described, most of the ones that I have met are actually very proud of their status and their role. But of course, if you simply hire somebody who says they are a tour guide when they are not licensed, caveat emptor.

She was actually licensed. I had asked to see the license. However, I didn`t file a complaint. I thought whats the point, probably are all the same anyway. 

I know a few very good English speaking guides, who speak good English, are polite and give a great service. But I also heard from many guides that they won´t take on the job if it involves only taking tourists on a sightseeing tour.

 

I`ve seen fantastic German speaking guides in Bangkok and Chiang Mai in various temples and palaces who spoke excellent German and were very knowledgeable. Never seen any in Phuket.  

[Oziex1]

Big Jokes silence on this is deafening, nailing foreigners working as tour guides is right in his jurisdiction.

 

Must be too busy claiming the credit for raising sunken ships.

[madmitch]

And why are they on the streets? Because there's not enough work for Chinese speaking guides at the moment.

 

Were there protests during the massive influx of Chinese pre-Phoenix? No. There was plenty of work to go around at that time for both legal and illegal guides, usually operating together. 

 

Want work? Learn Russian!

[Ctkong]

2 hours ago, thaibutty said:

I wonder if they are more qualified and motivated than the one German speaking Thai guide I once hired for visiting friends. 
Demanded 3000 Baht for one day, barely spoke any German at all and instead of giving my friends some relevant information about the temples they were visiting she made them stop at Wang Thalang, a Latex shop and a cashew nut factory, despite their protest that they did not want to see any of these places. Later she (yes, a female guide) complained to me that they didn`t buy anything and asked how she was supposed to make any money from the job.

 

While there for sure are some crooks amongst the expats here, I am sure that if foreigners would be allowed to work as guides most would do a 100x better job than most of the so called local "guides"

 

Many Thai guides are not versed in their history.  They are good at locating the best restaurants and shops though.  Customer satisfaction is not high in their list. You would be better off trawling the internet for places to see and directly ask the guides to bring you there. Note of caution: better get the facts of any place you want to visit from the internet than the guide because they may just ramble off quasi facts so as not to lose face. I understand from my tour guide friend that getting a license to be a tour guide do not require much qualification at all. 

[simoh1490]

6 minutes ago, Ctkong said:

Many Thai guides are not versed in their history.  They are good at locating the best restaurants and shops though.  Customer satisfaction is not high in their list. You would be better off trawling the internet for places to see and directly ask the guides to bring you there. Note of caution: better get the facts of any place you want to visit from the internet than the guide because they may just ramble off quasi facts so as not to lose face. I understand from my tour guide friend that getting a license to be a tour guide do not require much qualification at all. 

Getting a license requires four weeks of history study with exams every week, at the end of which the class tours the region they have trained for and visits all of the sites they have had to learn the history of and en-route give presentations to the rest of the group on the bus, in English - days start at 6am and finish at a hotel for dinner at around 8pm, it's not a fun experience at all.  A final exam determines whether the guide is certified or not, cost of the course is about 17k baht and is led by a professor at CMU, in the case of my wife who underwent the training and passed - the pass rate is around 80%. 

Edited November 20, 2018 by simoh1490

[Ctkong]

2 hours ago, thaibutty said:

I wonder if they are more qualified and motivated than the one German speaking Thai guide I once hired for visiting friends. 
Demanded 3000 Baht for one day, barely spoke any German at all and instead of giving my friends some relevant information about the temples they were visiting she made them stop at Wang Thalang, a Latex shop and a cashew nut factory, despite their protest that they did not want to see any of these places. Later she (yes, a female guide) complained to me that they didn`t buy anything and asked how she was supposed to make any money from the job.

 

While there for sure are some crooks amongst the expats here, I am sure that if foreigners would be allowed to work as guides most would do a 100x better job than most of the so called local "guides"

 

I find university students moonlighting as tour guides to be a better alternative because they read up on the subject and not after commissions from selected shops . Perhaps TAT could drum into their heads that tourists are not after shopping tours per se. They want to see and experience nature and culture... not shopping malls and cheap trinkets.

[Ctkong]

1 minute ago, simoh1490 said:

Getting a license requires four weeks of history study with exams every week, at the end of which the class tours the region they have trained for and visits all of the sites they have had to learn the history of and en-route give presentations to the rest of the group on the bus - days start at 6am and finish at a hotel for dinner at around 8pm, it's not a fun experience at all.  A final exam determines whether the guide is certified or not, cost of the course is about 17k baht and is led by a professor at CMU, in the case of my wife who underwent the traing and passed - the pass rate is around 80%. 

My missus’s family side has about 8/9 people having licenses and none of them are uni graduates. All passed their exams ! Unbelievable. 

 

[simoh1490]

1 minute ago, Ctkong said:

My missus’s family side has about 8/9 people having licenses and none of them are uni graduates. All passed their exams ! Unbelievable. 

 

Sorry, to be more clear: the CMU Professor leads the course, the attendees are not CMU students they are just everyday people who can study etc..

[Ctkong]

We had an English guide once when we went on a tour in England. Much impressed with her knowledge of the culture and history of all the places we went. Very professional indeed. We are south East Asians but the tour group also consists of Americans, Europeans, Taiwanese, and a couple of other south East Asians.  Guide was a teacher and it was summer then. Everything went like clockwork . 11 days trip. Other trips to Asian countries , I found the guides more  conversant in places to eat and buy stuff .