Travel thirsty for a guide

Guides with practice cards are being “hunted” after the epidemic, especially those with experience.

Take advantage when visitors are free at Lam Son scenic spot, Thanh Hoa, guide Pham Anh Quan, 33 years old, in Hanoi for VnExpress Or since April 30, he has continuously received invitations to collaborate with tour companies. “In May, I hardly take a day off and so far have received a full schedule for the first half of June.” Today in the middle of the week, he led a group of 130 tourists from Thanh Hoa.

Previously, he shared that he mainly collaborated with two travel companies, both domestic and international. Currently, the working frequency has reached the same level as the summer of 2019, almost full month. “I feel that tourism is really booming, so there is a phenomenon of “burning” guides, especially on weekends. Many companies find and contact me, but I have to refuse,” he said.

Not only guides from Hanoi go to the provinces with tight schedules, the guides at destinations like Phu Quoc also “do not run out of things to do”. Mr. Truong Phu Quoc, 23 years old, shared that companies booked calls but could not receive more, had to transfer to others but few people had an empty schedule. Every day of the month, he works from 7am to 9pm, leading guests on an island tour, visiting the Grand World… In the evening, continue to edit photos in the tour to return guests.

Chairman of the Association of Professional Tour Guides Phu Quoc, Mr. Truong Cong Tam, said that since the holiday, members of the association are constantly full of schedules. The association also found 200 more guides from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc to partly meet the needs of tourists and travel companies.

Struggling to find a guide

According to a report of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, on the occasion of April 30 and May 1, the whole country welcomed about 5 million domestic visitors, before the Lunar New Year was 6.2 million. shows the strong recovery of the tourism industry and the very high demand of tourists after the epidemic. However, there are still outstanding problems such as shortage of human resources.

Through the actual survey, every day on the tour guide groups appeared dozens of job postings, many tours in May have not yet been led. Mr. Do Tu, deputy director of Hanoiskyteam, said that the company is lacking about 30-40% of executives for tours in the summer, even though before the epidemic, the network of collaborative guides reached hundreds of people.

Specializing in MICE and teambuilding tours, the company’s number of visitors is increasing by 3 times compared to 2019. Mr. Tu explained that after two years of the Covid-19 epidemic, many companies and businesses organize compensatory tours. Normally, students travel at the beginning of the year, but because the epidemic has only been organized until now, the number of visitors is larger.

Mr. Le Hong Thai, Deputy Director of Hanoitourist Travel Company, also said that the number of regular collaborators of the company is lacking about 30%. The number of tours in May and June is higher than the same period in 2019. The company is currently using up all the staff with guide cards in the company, about 20 people, in addition, it has to reconnect with 50 regular collaborators, committed to There are 15-18 tour guides in a month for them.

Currently, the lack of high-quality guides is one of the outstanding difficulties of enterprises. In 2020, after the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, 70-80% of tourism industry employees, including guides, have to stop working. Continuing until 2021, an additional 35% of employees will quit their jobs, 10% will work in moderation. After the epidemic was under control, many guides did not return because they had settled into their new jobs.

Without familiar guides, businesses are forced to find new personnel, but be careful. Mr. Do Tu said that the two years of the epidemic had lost opportunities for professional training of newly graduated forces from universities, colleges and vocational training centers. Therefore, even if you have a guide card, it is still difficult to verify all skills. Currently, the solution is that the company has to recruit a long time in advance, then add requirements and guide new personnel to meet the quality of the tour.

Lan Huong