Motac urged not to make it mandatory for licensed tour guides to attend CTRE courses

KUCHING (Jan 4): The federal Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) has been urged to abolish the mandatory requirement for all licensed tour guides to attend three continuing tourism related education (CTRE) courses a year before being allowed to renew their yearly licence.

Voicing his frustrations over the great inconvenience placed on him and his colleagues as the timing of the courses would sometimes overlap with their working schedule was Lim Ann Kok, who has been a licensed tour guide for over 20 years.

“For example, let’s say I reserve a place for the course on the 30th of any particular month but two days before the starting of the course, I receive a call from my travel agency giving me an assignment to bring foreign tourists around the city.

“However, the organiser of the course would not allow me to withdraw. They would say if I don’t attend the course, they will blacklist me from future courses and potentially I might not be able to renew my licence,” he lamented, pointing out there are about 200 licensed tour guides in the state.

Furthermore, he added, as all insights and information about tourism or historical facts are readily available online at the fingertips of the tour guides it would be impractical for them to physically attend the courses.

“It is in fact the responsibility of every tour guide to upgrade and improve their knowledge by doing their own reading and research after being accredited as a licensed tour guide. Attending these compulsory CTRE courses should be the condition for us to renew our yearly licence.”

Lim said each tour guide will have to pay RM50 for each course and another RM55 to renew their licence, totalling about RM205 every year for license renewal and completing the three mandatory CTRE courses.

Thus, he suggested for the federal tourism ministry to better deploy their officers and resources to promote the growth of the tourism industry and not impose this unnecessary mandatory requirement to the distress of the local tour guides.

Lim proposed that attending the CTRE courses, with each lasting about three hours, should be made optional rather than mandatory, and only new tour guides, not the experienced ones, are required to sign up for the courses.

Thus, he looked forward to seeing the new federal government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim address the concerns of tourism stakeholders and come up with better solutions in view of the tourism industry being a major revenue generator for the country.

Lim has submitted an official letter to federal Tourism Minister Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, requesting consideration to abolish the mandatory requirement for licensed tour guides to attend the CTRE courses.