Tougher Times Await Local Tour Guides

[george]

Tougher times await local tour guides

BANGKOK: -- Though the shortage of professional tour guides in Thailand has been a subject of long discussion, especially those with fluency in languages, the problem has never been dealt with in a proper manner. That's why you see so many foreign guides operating in Thailand, although illegally.

But starting 2010, in line with our obligations under GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, foreign guides will be able to operate in Thailand legally. However, the Professional Guides Association of Thailand is not happy with the situation.

"We don't want that to happen. There is no foreigner who can tell about our country better than our own people," said a senior staff of the association.

The association is urging the government to take steps to safeguard the interest and livelihood of local guides, so far protected by the Professional Guides Act that reserves this profession for Thais only.

"We can't deny that the competition would be tough. We know that we will have to improve our expertise to cope with the new situation," he said.

In the mean time, local guides have been receiving advanced training with support from the private sector and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports which has allocated a budget to train and enhance the professional expertise of local guides, particularly where there is a shortage of proficient bi- or multi-lingual guides.

Guides with proficiency in other foreign languages will also be trained, and other measures will need to be taken to keep pace with the changing face of competition in the region and the tourism industry as a whole.

--Bangkok Post Horizon 2005-07-07

[siamkia8]

"We don't want that to happen. There is no foreigner who can tell about our country better than our own people," said a senior staff of the association.

if the farang can learn Thai and learn the way of Thai and knows about Thailand more than the Thai people, why not?..

[Sangsom]

"We don't want that to happen. There is no foreigner who can tell about our country better than our own people," said a senior staff of the association.

I dare to contradict this. Often these foreign guides make a better study of the country and culture - as Thailand in this case - than the local tour guides do. Besides that who better can explain to visitors the huge differences between their home country and this country. Who better understand what they find strange or awkward? Exactly someone from their own country that knows this country as well and speaks their language.

I heard once a Thai tourguide in Bangkok warn his guests never ever to buy any gold or jewelry from a regular gold shop in China Town. That was "very dangerous" only the place where he brough the people was safe to buy. Guess: the Gem Gallery (or Factory or whatever name it's got) where they get a huge commission and people pay triple. Not really something to qualify them as being superior! Besides that whatever he told or explained was inaudible and in such funny English that even with a huge dose of imagination I did not understand a word of it.

[Martin]

Better guidance for tourists, starting 2010---there's shutting the door after the horse will be gone for you, boyo!

[Boatabike]

"We don't want that to happen. There is no foreigner who can tell about our country better than our own people," said a senior staff of the association.

Well that’s really interesting, I just wonder why I get asked so often by several of my local tourist guide travel agencies to explain the local area to the visiting tourists, as I apparently do it better than all there staff. I don't work for them but if passing, or I have just popped in fro a chat all eyes will turn to me if a tourist comes in asking for info. I guess these companies prefer my 2nd rate offerings to there Government approved 1st place ones. Just a thought.

[Pattaya_Fox]

Tougher times await local tour guides

"We don't want that to happen. There is no foreigner who can tell about our country better than our own people," said a senior staff of the association.

--Bangkok Post Horizon 2005-07-07

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

....or should he have said. "There is no foreigner who can handle kickbacks better than a Thai?"

[Scott]

Competition may sharpen up the local guides. I've had a lot of family/friends visit and often send them on tours--especially the day tours as I sometimes have to work. On several of these, I've gone along. They are good value for money and I usually enjoy them.

That said, one of the problems is that some guides don't know what they are talking about. I've heard some far fetched stories and blatantly wrong information given by these people. They usually do well with their script, but if you happen to ask something there's a good chance they will give you the wrong information. I don't know why they just don't say they don't know (or recommend a book that explains it).

[joe beets]

^ Have you ever heard any Khun Thai say anything remotely like, "I don't know?"

On all your other points I agree completely.

As long as you let them stick to their speil, they're ok.

Ask a question and you enter uncharted territory.

Thar be dragons.

jb

[OlRedEyes]

"We can't deny that the competition would be tough. We know that we will have to improve our expertise to cope with the new situation," he said.

This is the only way forward for Thailand I believe. As long as competition is shut out by protective laws, the standard and competitiveness of Thai will never improve, and will drag the economy down to an 'also ran' forever.

Fear of competition has always equaled a low self belief. I cannot become a world-class tennis player by only playing in my own village.

[bossman]

Fear of competition has always equaled a low self belief. I cannot become a world-class tennis player by only playing in my own village.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's a pretty oversimplistic appraisal of the situation. There is such thing as unfair advantage and bringing 1st world money/resources to shut out local businesses.

[cmsally]

I think a little fairness for the Thais.

I tend to side with bossman.

Firstly I do agree on the fact that there are only a few guides who really know their stuff but they are out there.

There are a lot of people who work only part time as a guide and do it because they have an interest in history etc and like to share this. They are of course normally very very proficient.

Income for most full time guides is meagre and also irregular - very difficult to achieve any kind of steady income. Tourists have a nasty habit of coming all at once and disappearing all at once! Most agencies don't pay very good wages, which is probably a mix of oversupply and price cutting from tour companies.

Training for guides is substandard and done mostly by people who have never been a guide or had any experience of the tourism business. By all means let them improve themselves by becoming more competitive, but wouldn't it be fairer to give them the access to better training and skills first, at least to give them a fairly even starting point.

It's all very well to say they are all substandard and that they need to pull their socks up but the government needs to recognise the value of tourism and that the guides are one of its main faces in the service sector. Therefore they need to make the investment in their training and education (NB quality not always in proportion to money spent). And no that doesn't mean they all have to have degrees, some of the best guides do not.

It sure looks like an easy way out for the government. Let them come in from abroad where they have access to better education and training.

Why not take your homegrown resource and improve it or is that the harder and less profitable option.

[TokyoT]

The problems pointed out in this thread in regard to local tour guides is not likely to change without competition from the outside. It is not the governments responsibility to supply funding to private tour companies to train the tour guides. These companies expect unfair protection to be provided by the government while continuing to provide a substandard level of service to customers. Competition is the best way to raise the level the quality of products and services available to the public.

Government protection of local industries can certainly be justified in some areas. This is particularly true in infant industries, or industries that require major funding, or long established R&D. None of these hold true for the travel and tourism industry in Thailand. This industry has been around for a long time in Thailand and the local companies have had more than enough time to get their acts together and provide a high quality product.

Paying foreign guides more than current local guides are paid, or providing better training for the foreign guides all cost money. This will mean either lower profits or higher costs to the customers. The same holds true for the local companies. They have the ability to lower their profits or increase their prices to help pay the guides more, or to provide more/better training.

It may not be the best idea to simply open the gates and allow an unlimited number of foreigners into the industry. But the local companies have had sufficient time and have not proven to be willing to make significant gains on their own. The outside competition may be the only thing that will force them to actually consider providing a higher level of service to paying customers. This change is not due to take affect until 2010. They have now been warned, and now have the time to train staff, and prepare for the outside competition.

Some of the comments in the OP don’t exactly mesh – First they say they are the best because “There is no foreigner who can tell about our country better than our own people”. If this is indeed a true statement then they should have nothing to fear from the foreign competition. If they are better suited to do they job they will have no problem. But then they turn around and ask for the government to protect them?

[cclub75]

It reminds me the "polish plumber" story we had in France, during the Referendum campaign (UE constitution, you do remember, right ?)

;-)

We were very, very afraid of the plumber from Poland who will come into our nice country to steal our jobs and (maybe XXXX our wives, we should ask Freud).

What a joke.

I find it very refreshing : it is the absolute proof that stupidity has no nationality .

A thai business who tries to survive only by asking protection from competition, against all common sense, is as much as stupid.

You will notice also, always, the tiny "racism" underline... But mai pen rai.

Edited July 10, 2005 by cclub75

[Galong]

The TAT has a training program. All guides must pass this class in order to legally be a guide. However, the training is very weak. Thais with almost no real English speaking skills still pass.

As a tour operator, there are plenty of very talented Thai guides that I'd love to have on my team. Trouble is, they are all working for themselves. There are only so many guides, Thai and foreign, who really know what they're doing, especially when it comes to nature tours.

"No, it's not a sea eagle... it's a Brahminy Kite" If I spent good money for a nature tour, I would expect my nature guide to know the proper names of what we're seeing, especially the common stuff.

1. There are no Vampire Bats in Thailand. They come from the other side of the world.

2. There are no Iguanas in Thailand unless someone brought them in. they come from the other side of the world.

3. The serrated leaves that you see the national park staff chew is not the cocaine leaf. That's from the other side of the world.

4. Elephants don't benefit from having to schlep lard-a## tourists around the jungle. They belong in the jungle. They are being exploited.

5. Thailand was colonized by the Chinese from the inside. :-)

Question: How many really good Thai guides know anything about the rest of the world? How much more fun and educational would a tour be if the guide knew about the nature or culture of other regions?

I think that there is room for both, but foreigners who want to be guides MUST prove that they are more than merely fluent in a language. Better guide will produce better tours. Lonely Planet zombies can go to Laos or Cambodia if they want a $10 day tour. Bring up the quality any way you can Thailand... please.

[cmsally]

Absolutely agree with Galong. There are many good guides although never enough it seems and it also takes many things to make a good guide.

TAT training is definitely not thorough and no guarantee someone has the ability to be a guide.

A very tricky situation in that you want to push up the quality here and not have hoards of foreigners who maybe only have the language skills and nothing else.

One solution for the situation might be to only hire foreign guides for speciality tours that there is a demand - they have to have experience, qualifications etc.

Agree that no more US$10 tours is a good thing but unfortunately some customers only look at price and not quality.

Would be interested to hear what kind of tours Galong has, as I am a tour operator too but not in Phuket.

[Khutan]

^ Have you ever heard any Khun Thai say anything remotely like, "I don't know?" <snip>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mai Loo krup

[TokyoT]

Galong & cmsally – other tour operators feel free to respond.

From your earlier posts there is an implication that all the tour guides only get training from TAT. Is it not possible for independent tour agencies to provide their own training for tour guides? Or is this deemed not practical due to the added cost and not being able to pass this on to the customer?

[joe beets]

^ Have you ever heard any Khun Thai say anything remotely like, "I don't know?" <snip>

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mai Loo krup

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh sure, it's easy for YOU to be right.

I was, er, I mean be fair, that was totally out of context and, er,,,

Thailand.

Meanwhile (imperceptibly changing the subject), I thought this...

5.  Thailand was colonized by the Chinese from the inside. :-)

Was

Absolutely

&lt;removed&gt;

Brilliant. Ja ja!

jb