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Creating a tourists' paradise
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Michael Evans Urey
THE meteoric increase in China's tourism market has necessarily seen a corresponding rise in the tour guide industry. At this stage of the industry's development in China, it would be useful to compare guide operations in another international market: The American market, which competes for some of the same customers, namely, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, could be characterized as a highly fragmented and unregulated free-for-all. The Chinese market is the opposite.
The Chinese tour guides are required to be tested and licensed to demonstrate knowledge of China and an understanding of the tourists' needs. In some American markets knowledge is an adjunct to the guides' skills, since the guides' main function is to convey those tourists in their rush from one revenue-producing venue to the next. Generating high commissions is the sole purpose of the guide. Stamina, not education, is the sine qua non, since the tourists will be taken to nightclubs until 2am. The next morning the guide will be expected to have his guests up early and out visiting more attractions that can earn a fee for the guide.
This contrast between the professionalism of the Chinese guides and the frenetic scramble for commissions should bode well for long-term growth in China's campaign for international tourists. A trip to a land perceived as exotic, such as China, carries a higher level of anxiety along with the excitement, than a visit to Disneyland, which is how tourists view America. China's training programmes, as exemplified by the Tourism Programme at Shenzhen Polytechnic College, which stress the historical, cultural and scenic aspects of China, as well as the multilingual abilities of the guides, should put China in an enviable position to compete for the attention of international tourists.
In the next 20 years, China's market will continue to expand at a rapid rate. There will be many interesting and well-paying jobs; China's investment in training a professional tourism staff will reap many dividends in the years ahead.
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