Southeast Asian tourism prompts growing demand for language skills
Southeast Asian tourism prompts growing demand for language skills
2023-10-26
The tourism industry is facing a transition, as more and more visitors come to Taiwan from Southeast Asia. By contrast, fewer visitors are coming from China and Japan. A shortage of tour guides who can speak Southeast Asian languages is fueling a shift in priorities. Experts are holding more training events for guides who can speak Thai and Vietnam. They’re also calling for rules to be relaxed on who can take the official training for national tour guides, to make it easier for new immigrants of Southeast Asian heritage.
Since the pandemic, there’s been rapid growth in the number of tourists coming to Taiwan from Southeast Asia. But few tour guides have appropriate language skills. Some travel agencies can’t take on such clients.
Luo Hsuan-hung
Tourist industry
Visitors from Vietnam, Indonesia and even South Korea have grown 20-30%. So obviously there aren’t enough tour guides. Even if a group comes to us, our agency can’t take them on.
So how big is the shortage? This year to the end of September, 46,000 people got certified as official national tour guides. Just 174 of them speak Thai, and 168 speak Vietnamese. But since the pandemic, tourists from those countries grew 30%. Experts think there’s a Vietnamese-speaking guide shortage of 25%, and a Thai-speaking guide shortage of 10%. The majority of tour guides work in Mandarin. But those 35,000 Mandarin-speaking guides are facing a shortage of clients. Eighty-five percent have no groups, due to the Chinese ban on travel to Taiwan. Global inflation rates and the depreciation of the Yen have also turned off Japanese travelers, and work has halved for Japanese-speaking guides.
Hsu Kuan-pin
R.O.C. Tourist Guide Association
Although we have more than 100 tour guides making up the shortfall this year, we want to keep on holding training events, so that within the short-term, within two or three years, we can rapidly make up the difference. There are more candidates taking the tour guide exam next year. I think we can resolve this problem quickly.
Experts say a lack of language skills is just one facet of the issue. They want criteria for certification to relax, to allow new immigrants and international students to take the exam. That could go a long way to rebalancing the post-pandemic tourist market.
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兩樣情！泰語、越語導遊急缺華語導遊沒團接
2023-10-26
疫後國境開放滿一年，東南亞旅客疫後快速成長，也讓會泰語、越南語導遊供不應求，反倒是因為中國客不來、日客銳減，導遊工作量大幅減少，呈現不同語別的導遊，工作兩樣情。
疫後東南亞旅客成長快速，但卻因為會相對應語言的導遊，相當稀缺，旅行社現在有團，也不敢接。
[[旅遊業者 駱炫宏]]
“越南、印尼，甚至於韓國，入境遊客的增加2到3成，所以導遊就顯然不夠。就算有團我們旅行社也不敢接。”
接東南亞導遊有多缺，截至今年九月，國內領取導遊資格證照總共4萬6千多人，其中泰語174人，而越南語更只有168人，偏偏和疫情前相比，旅客成長了3成，也讓目前越南語導遊，最高有2成5缺口，泰語導遊也缺超過1成。反倒是人數3.5萬，數量最多的華語導遊，因為中國客禁令，有85%面臨無團可接，另外受到通膨和日幣貶值，不想出國的日本客，也讓接日本團的導遊，工作量砍半。
[[中華民國觀光導遊協會理事長 許冠濱]]
“在今年雖然補足100多位(稀缺導遊)，我們希望訓練活動可以繼續辦下去，能夠在短期2年到3年之內，迅速補足，再搭配明年的考試錄取人數增多，我想這問題很快就可以解決。”
專家表示，除了稀少語言導遊部分，希望在整個證照取得方面，能夠再寬鬆一點，也能輔導新住民和僑外生考取，才能解決疫後觀光市場，各語言導遊分配不均的窘境。
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