Demand escalates for tour guides with foreign-language skills

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By Cheng Si (China Daily) 10:01, July 02, 2024

A group of foreign tourists poses for a photo at the Palace Museum in Beijing, on April 25. (CHINA DAILY)

Tour guides who can speak foreign languages have become some of the most sought-after employees in China, as the inbound tourism market continues its rapid recovery.

"It feels like I've been working every day and have no time to take a short break," said Liu Yiling, a 31-year-old English-speaking tour guide in Beijing, who has worked in the tourism sector for six years.

"My friend in Shanghai, who is also an English-speaking tour guide and knows some French, has seen her daily pay surge to 1,500 yuan ($206) from around late April," he added.

In 2021, when the tourism industry was hard hit by the COVID-19 epidemic, Liu switched jobs from being a tour guide to a preschool teacher.

"My career had bleak prospects and I transferred to the education sector," he said. "But I still loved being a tour guide, because the human touch and person-to-person communication are really attractive to me. So I decided to return to the tourism industry in February."

The must-see Beijing attractions for foreign visitors are the cultural and historical highlights of the Palace Museum, the Great Wall, and the Summer Palace, he said.

"We tour guides are like multitaskers who are responsible for interpretation work, managing foreigners' accommodation and itineraries, and more importantly, explaining to them China's customs and culture," Liu said.

His current monthly pay is 15,000 to 20,000 yuan, and he is confident about the tourism market's performance this summer — the traditional peak season.

Inbound rebound

This year's inbound tourism boom has been fueled by authorities allowing visa-free entry for ordinary passport-holders from more than a dozen countries — including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Switzerland, and Malaysia — and China's enhanced image as a global tourism destination.

Central authorities also released a series of policies to make it easier for foreign visitors to use their bank cards in China and e-payment apps on their phones.

These moves have seen encouraging results.

The National Immigration Administration said it issued 466,000 visas to international travelers in the first quarter of 2024, up almost 120 percent year-on-year. Nearly 2 million visits were made to the mainland by visa-exempt foreign nationals in the first quarter, up 266 percent year-on-year.

In the first quarter, inbound travel bookings registered three-fold growth year-on-year, with most of the visitors coming from Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States, and Australia, said travel portal Trip.com Group.

Among the top city destinations for international travelers were Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, the group said.

The Chinese mainland saw a surge in international travelers during the May Day holiday, with Ministry of Culture and Tourism figures showing 1.76 million inbound trips during the five-day period.

This success, however, has raised concerns about tourism industry workers lacking the foreign-language skills to cope with the rapidly expanding number of international visitors.

The mainland has 650,000 certified tour guides, according to Ministry of Culture and Tourism statistics. Of those, 93 percent speak Mandarin, 6 percent English, and only 1 percent another language such as German or Spanish.

Xu Xiaolei, chief brand officer of CYTS Tours Holding Co in Beijing, said that the employment market for tour guides often fluctuates. This is due to occasional understaffing problems and seasonal demands, for example during peak periods when guides who speak a less-widely used language are required, and other issues.

"The industry has had a problem of staff shortages, and many foreign-language speaking guides switched their jobs to other industries due to the epidemic or the impacts of the tourism industry upgrading itself. Unsatisfactory pay and the lower social status of the job may also discourage new college graduates from entering the industry," he said.

Every tourism industry job, whether in an office or outside, is hard work and high pressure and requires workers who are passionate and energetic and possess good general knowledge and linguistic skills, he added.

"Tour guides, especially those handling international travelers, are usually all-rounders, as they have to interpret and explain China's history, culture and geography to foreigners. He or she should have the ability to keep learning and be alert to political and cultural differences," he added. "It's a challenging job."

Sharing culture

Jin Zhengwen, 31, has worked as a tour guide for nearly six years. He holds a Mandarin-language tour guide license but can speak fluent Korean. Jin said what he cares about most is the satisfaction he gets from his work, and explaining China's cultural heritage to visitors.