AS more tourists turn to travel apps, blogs, home- and ride-sharing platforms, travel agents and tourist guides are finding business more challenging.

The struggle of local tourist guides comes in the heels of Malaysia inching back to 2014 levels, when tourist arrivals were 27.44 million, the highest in a decade, according to Tourism and Culture Ministry data.

For Penang, however, tourist numbers have been encouraging in 2017, with an 8% increase in international arrivals by air from January to August, compared with the same period last year. Arrivals via international cruise ships have also risen.

Despite these numbers, various factors, including digital platforms that increasingly make travel a do-it-yourself affair, have led to guides quitting for better jobs, said Unesco-certified cultural heritage specialist guide and trainer Joann Khaw.

It has also become tougher for new guides to break into the industry, the veteran Penang tourist guide said.

“There are fewer travel agencies now and most prefer to work with experienced guides,” said the Skills Development Department-certified vocational trainer.

There are some 14,000 licensed guides in the country and at least 15 tourist guides’ associations. The Penang association has more than 700 guides but only about 40% work full time.

Khaw, who has been a licensed guide since 1991, said her business has been declining since 2012. The drop experienced by some guides, she said, was due to several reasons.

Apps and foreign competition

Travel apps – Airbnb’s Trips, Google Trips, and Guides by Lonely Planet, to name a few – have made holiday planning and research easy for holidaymakers, she said. 

“Tourists, who take advantage of last-minute discounts by hotels for short trips, often do not need guides. You see them using their smartphones to find their way around. 

“There are also many ‘selfie’ tourists who are only interested in taking photos,” said Khaw, a hospitality and tourism industry expert recognised by the Skills Development Department.

“Some tourists also get information from their local Uber or Grab drivers. Some tourist guides also work as e-hailing drivers.”

Khaw said some hotels also offered tours by licensed guides or unlicensed “locals”, who could even be Westerners staying in Penang for several months.

Some European “locals”, she said, advertised their services on social media sites and in brochures placed in several hotels in George Town, a Unesco world heritage site. 

“They are not licensed by the Tourism Ministry, unlike licensed guides who face fines if they fail to have the continuous tourism-related education certification, renew the licence yearly, display it when working, and follow the dress code.”

Khaw said some government agencies offered free tours, like the state tourism bureau Penang Global Tourism (PGT) which offers guided walks on certain weekends at the Penang Botanic Gardens, George Town and Protestant cemetery. 

She said some tourists would cancel their bookings after learning about the free tours.

“Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Pahang also have free tours. The tourist guides in these programmes are paid RM100 per hour for their services.

“It is good for them but has anyone thought of the impact? Malaysia is paying for tourists’ holidays.

“Do you think any country in Europe will pay for your tours? Free tours in Europe are not covered by their governments. The tourists pay through tipping,” she said, adding that government funds should be spent on improving the lives of Malaysians.

Relying on big groups

The struggle of local tourist guides comes as Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz said RM300 million more was needed to boost the industry by focusing on tourists from India and China.

Despite the challenges, guides still have certain markets that relied on their services, like groups from China, Thailand, India and Indonesia. 

Khaw said in Penang and Kuala Lumpur, guides still had business from cruise passengers, school groups, special-needs people and senior citizens. 

Penang Tourist Guide Association president Chin Poh Chin said business was good in certain sectors like cruise passengers and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) groups.

“From October until April next year, there are cruise ships coming to Penang 20 days a month. 

“These groups have kept us busy. We often have to get outstation guides to come and help,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Chin, a guide with 32 years’ experience in the industry, said the future of the industry was in MICE travellers. 

“The money is in MICE. We are only starting to look at this sector now while other destinations like Singapore and Hong Kong are far ahead of us.”

Business travellers spend more than leisure tourists. The Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), the national body for MICE, said business tourists spent about RM6.8 billion in Malaysia between 2010 and 2015, at least 3.5 times more than leisure tourists. 

Penang, which is actively promoting itself as a MICE destination, has recorded an estimated RM900 million economic impact from the industry in just the first nine months of 2017. 

Keep the ‘soul’

Chin and Khaw believe the tourist guide business will grow despite the challenges. Their optimism is based on news that the Penang International Airport will be getting a 12 million passenger expansion and slightly better hotel occupancy numbers. Tour bus operators are also apparently expanding their fleet.

Tour guides just need to update their skills and adapt to the market, such as speaking good Mandarin and English, besides being willing to work outstation, they said.

Still, they worry about Penang’s George Town’s lasting attractiveness as gentrification pushes out its original residents and intangible heritage.

“Sustainable tourism is about protecting the interest of locals and the environment. Tourism should bring the people economic growth, job creation and infrastructure development,” Khaw said.

It is not just growing arrival numbers and meeting KPIs (key performance indicators), she added.

The George Town world heritage site needed better management, monitoring and enforcement.

“Without its people and intangible heritage, we will be left with tangible heritage that is sterile and soulless. 

“A tourist guide can make history interesting and stories come alive but (what if) there are only trinkets shops, cafes and hotels to see in the George Town world heritage site?” – December 13, 2017.