YES, ever since the licensing of tour guides was introduced in 1975 when I was automatically granted a licence.
In June 1973, I entered the travel industry by joining a tour company, and my first day was spent observing a full-day sightseeing bus tour in and around Kuala Lumpur.
On my second day, I was the tour guide for the same sightseeing tour that runs daily, as most passengers were picked up from various hotels in the city, with many of them booked by receptionists who were paid handsome commissions for making reservations by phone.
Several months later, a tour guide training course was organised by the Kuala Lumpur Tourist Association (KLTA) which I attended and easily passed.
It was the seventh course conducted by KLTA, with the first in 1964.
Decades later, I was the organising chairman of tour guide courses for the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents, or Matta, and organised the 23rd Kuala Lumpur tour guide Course in 1993 and the first tour guide courses in Langkawi and Ipoh in 1994.
From 1990 to 2000, I was a part-time lecturer and examiner for tour guide courses organised by various companies, academies and associations.
During this period and earlier, tour guide courses were largely lecture-based and on average, half the candidates failed practical tests.
After practical training was incorporated and the course duration extended, most would obtain a tour guide licence.
Even so, their quality can vary greatly as it is more than memorising and sharing facts.
Their character, interpretation and communication skills are far more important.
In 1992, I managed 15 tour guides, 15 tour bus drivers and 15 tour van drivers, all full-time employees, while part-timers were regularly hired.
We were so busy that most of them worked non-stop and often pleaded to be given a rest day or a break from outstation assignments.
But over the past three decades, in-house tour guides were few as most of them prefer to work freelance with popular ones always in demand while those troublesome are avoided.
The weakest ones accept assignments to work as a “sitting guide” to earn a living, albeit miserably.
Hiring a sitting guide is just to comply with regulations that there must be a licensed tour guide on board a tour bus with passengers.
He or she would just sit in the bus like any other passenger and another person, usually the tour leader, would play the role of tour guide.
In such an arrangement, the tour leader not only delivers the running commentaries during the sightseeing tour, he also grabs the shopping commissions normally paid to the tour guide.
Incidentally, the bus driver and the tour company may also get a share of shopping commissions.
While conducting training for travel agents and tour operators, I often pointed out that a tour guide or tour leader may earn even more from handling a tour group than the tour company that organised the group tour or handled services such as airport transfers and sightseeing tours.
In the mid-1990s, I worked for a leading outbound tour company and their tour leaders doubled up as tour guides while the tour bus traversed several European countries.
These tour leaders cum tour guides received huge commissions from shopping and introducing various services.
Recently, the Malaysian Tourism Federation questioned the requirement for tour buses to be accompanied by a licensed tour guide, even though hire-and-drive passenger vans and multi-purpose vehicles used for e-hailing were exempted and their drivers often act as tour guides.
Meanwhile, Kota Kinabalu Warisan information chief Samuel Wong stirred local sentiments by asking whether the RM5.62 billion in tourism revenue for the first nine months of 2024 in Sabah had benefited foreign industry players more than Sabahans.
He pointed out that there are numerous foreign-owned tour agencies, hotels, restaurants and tour guide services in the state and asked whether regular checks are conducted on illegal vans, Grab drivers and even Airbnb hosts offering unlicensed tour services.
Now, back to the heading: Must there be a tour guide on board a tour bus with passengers?
It will be a resounding yes from the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council and all the respective state tour guide associations plus sympathisers in the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.
It will be a big no from the Malaysian Tourism Federation and all the travel associations, as their members are from travel and tour companies.
This argument has been ongoing for many years and it is just a matter of time before the powers that be finally act to change for the better.
Ultimately, customers should have the biggest say regarding the compulsory use of tour guides.
If they want a knowledgeable tour guide conversant in their language, then they ought to be given the best available so that they enjoy the tour and have a great memory of their stay.
But if they do not wish to pay a few hundred ringgit a day for the service of a tour guide, then it is unfair to impose on them.
We hardly see Malaysians travelling on their own in tour buses on domestic tour packages as they are sensitive to extra costs such as paying for a tour guide.
There are also instances when a tour guide is not wanted.
For example, privacy is needed when a group of corporate executives is on a field study trip and wishes to discuss freely on board without an outsider observing intently or eavesdropping on their plans and strategies.
Some years ago, I witnessed the Tourism Malaysia director-general flatly refusing to reconsider by hanging on to what he had picked up decades ago that tour guides can make or break a tour.
That was true before the new millennium when outbound tour operators held sway.
This was because they decided which destinations to be included in their thick tour catalogues and their customers could only visit countries that were included.
But in the new millennium, the majority of travellers do not join tour groups and can easily book airline tickets on their own.
The do-it-yourself arrangements can practically cover all other services such as airport transfers, accommodation at hotels or short-term rental accommodations, road, rail and ferry transport, food and beverage, entrance tickets and entertainment, and navigation using smartphones.
Soon, there will be apps for tourists to buy premium, standard or budget all-inclusive travel packages, allowing customers the option to book services on the spot, as done in e-hailing, without the risk of incurring cancellation charges if booked in advance and then unutilised.
With continued advancement and adoption of artificial intelligence, the need for tour operators and tour guides will be further reduced.
With rapid changes taking place, it would be impossible to keep pace if the ministry and industry were to keep holding on to antiquated laws and mindsets.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
