Although the number of visitors from Southeast Asia has increased after the pandemic ended, tour guides who speak the languages of Southeast Asia are in high demand and considered uncommon abilities. According to the Tourism Administration and MOTC, the qualification requirement for tour guides is excessively high because the test procedure necessitates a certain level of basic Chinese proficiency. In order to assist new immigrants and overseas Chinese students who possess foreign language proficiency in passing the test, the Tourism Administration, MOTC, will provide the "Rare Language Tour Guide Examination Training Class".
Tourism Administration to open class for new immigrants to obtain tour guide licenses of Southeast Asian languages.Photo reproduced from ifi.immigration.gov.tw
According to the Tourism Administration, MOTC, the Ministry of Examination will hand over its examination jurisdiction for tour guides, tour leaders, and other licenses to the Tourism Administration beginning this year. Adopting a dual-track system consisting of a "general system" and a "special system" will be the primary modifications; the general system is identical to the previous examination system. Travel companies prefer the special system since it contains easier exam questions, but if the company shifts, the qualification will no longer be valid. It is intended that this would free exceptional language learners from being prevented from pursuing professional licenses due to their fluency in Chinese.
The Tourism Administration also aims to recruit workers with a specific number of years of experience in the tourism industry who are willing to lead tours and have the ability to practice, as well as increase the number of tour guides in Southeast Asian languages like Thai and Vietnamese through the "special system".
