Review on tour guide system
Published on: Friday, July 21, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: A committee will be formed to look at the role of tour guides in the State, and especially the issue of commissions, following the protest by some tour guides at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) here last Saturday.The committee will be chaired by the Sabah Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, while the Federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture (Motac) will act as its secretariat, Motac Sabah Director Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar (pic) said.He said this in the wake of the protest by about 40 tour guides against supposed illegal China tour guides at the KKIA, which caused dozens of arriving Chinese tourists to be stranded for two hours. The protesters caused the guide to flee, leaving dozens of tourists, who had just arrived, stranded for almost two hours.
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The protesters followed the tourists as they boarded their excursion buses and continued to warn them of the consequences of not hiring local guides.This has irked both Motac and Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun, who called the tour guides short-sighted.He said they should have used proper channels to voice their concerns and that any deemed or interpreted as unfriendly towards tourists could have deep repercussions on the industry as a whole.Ahmad felt those who had participated in the protest did so personally, and did not represent any association.
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He said the protesters had been given a week to come to his office to give their statements.Video footage obtained shows them protesting using placards and a PA system as the tourists arrived.
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Ahmad said only tour leaders who were representatives of the companies that brought tourists to Sabah could take commissions from shopping tours in the State.But some tour guides also seek such commissions, which is illegal under the Tourism Industry Act 1992."This is the reason for their protest against the so-called unlicensed and foreign tour guides, who were actually tour leaders from the country of origin of the tourists," said Ahmad.He said there were no unlicensed or foreign tour guides in Sabah and there was no shortage of Chinese-speaking tour guides that supposedly caused tour operators to resort to using unlicensed foreigners.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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