SELLING vegetables online, working as security guards and becoming e-hailing drivers are some of the jobs tour guides have turned to as Malaysia’s borders remain closed to foreign tourists.

Half the 8,000 licensed guides are considered to be in a critical state, according to an assessment by the Malaysian Tourist Guides Council (MTGC), as they depend on guiding as their sole source of income.

Foreign tourists are a must for their survival, as locals do not usually engage tour guides for domestic holidays.

With Visit Malaysia Year 2020 cancelled and borders still closed to foreign tourists because of the Covid-19 pandemic, tour guide Peter Raj, 54, said he cannot sit idly waiting for business to pick up again.

The Selangor-based tour guide told The Malaysian Insight that “2020 was to have been a fantastic year. I had prior bookings all the way up to September but all that was cancelled once the movement-control order (MCO) was announced.

“They say things will recover by next year, but as more time passes, things are looking quite bleak. We’re not certain.”

Peter has turned to offering training for corporate companies but there is no take up yet.

He knows of other guides now selling vegetables, working as guards and e-hailing drivers.

The Selangor Tourist Guides’ Association member, whose clients are mainly from India, is not confident with predictions that global travel and the economy will recover next year.

“This (Covid-19) is just not happening only in Malaysia. India, my main market, currently has millions of cases and they are having a tough time. How are they going to come here and give us business?

“I don’t think recovery is going to happen soon,” said Peter, who has been in the business for a decade.

Raymond Sam, 40, another tourist guide from Klang, Selangor, has been in the profession for five years and earned enough until the pandemic struck.

He now rebrands and sells crepes by delivering from his home and is looking at supplying them to restaurants.

“This is what I’m looking at to cover my loss of income.”

Raymond has not completely given up on being a tourist guide and even managed to secure two jobs catering to locals.

“I was really lucky to get two local jobs when domestic travel was allowed. One was for leisure and the other for a corporate company.”

Raymond hopes Malaysia will reopen its borders for tourism with selected neighbouring countries, such as Singapore and Thailand, but concedes that the possibility is unlikely this year.

The green-lane arrangement between Malaysia and Singapore is mainly for official business and work travel.

In Sabah, Gilvenn Chong, 22, said he has stopped guiding temporarily and is now a farmer.

“I’ve gone back to my kampung and started farming. Until everything returns to normal, I’ll do this and sell the crops for income.”

Chong worked as a guide for two years and enjoyed good business mainly from European and Australian visitors until December, when the first signs of a coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China, emerged.

Interest in travel began declining at the start of the year, he said, and in March, Malaysia sealed its borders.

The reopening of domestic tourism is not helping tour guides much, as local tourists do self-drive holidays.

“And they rely on Waze or Google Maps. Only those who really want to explore a place will hire tour guides, but such tourists are few.” – September 1, 2020.