Vietnam to rank tour guides for the first time
The Vietnam Tourism Association (VTA) will soon launch a programme to rank Vietnamese tour guides, according to a Vietnam News Agency report.
This is the first time Vietnam is implementing such a programme, which will be done with financial assistance from the European Union. It aims to encourage tour guides to improve their performance to better meet travellers’ demands, as well as create favourable conditions for travel companies to sign contracts and pay adequate wages to tour guides.
The ranking will be based on three major criteria of capacity, knowledge and skills, where guides will be classified into three levels from three stars to five stars. From early October through to December, VTA will conduct ranking activities in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Quang Ninh, as well as other localities such as Khanh Hoa and Lao Cai.
The programme will be first rolled out for members of the Association of Vietnamese Tour Guides across the nation. After which, it will be expanded to all other tour guides.
Vietnam currently has 23,055 certified tour guides, including 14,428 international, 8,412 domestic and 215 working at certain sites. However, only five per cent hold contracts with travel firms, are salaried and hold an insurance.
source: TTG Asia
