India running out of guides for influx of Chinese tourists

[Otherside]

India running out of guides for influx of Chinese tourists

Staff Reporter
2015-06-18

Agra Castle, a UNESCO world heritage, about 2.5km northwest of Taj Mahal, India. (Photo/CFP)

Competition for Mandarin-speaking tour guides has gotten intense in India as more and more Chinese flood the country for business and travel, reports the Party-run People's Daily.

One owner of a travel agency in India said that she has to hire a student majoring in Mandarin language at a local university for hosting Chinese tourists when she runs out of tour guides. In the past two years, there have been so many Chinese tourists that there is no time to rest, the owner added.

Those who can speak Mandarin Chinese can make up to US$200 an hour as a tour guide, and are hard to find despite such fees.

Last year, India recorded 170,000 tourist visits from China. In addition to the increase in numbers, their spending and length of stay has also gone up. One reason is the number of businesspersons traveling to the country, who conduct their work affairs while dipping into some sightseeing on the side, said one tour guide.

The influx still has yet to catch up US and British tourist figures, said the report.

Indian prime minister Modi announced during his visit in China last month that the Indian government will offer electronic identification scans for Chinese travelers.

The biggest challenges for tourists is not the visa but the sanitary conditions in India, said a Chinese woman conducting business in the South Asia-Pacific. These conditions drive away more people than anything else, she added.

India has so many place that travelers could visit when Indian tourism bureau has to promote it. And, this is not a proud thing that visitors usually visit slums whenever they are in Mumbai, the most visited city of travelers', said a professor from University of Delhi.

The Indian tourism industry can offer a seemingly unlimited number of spots to visit, but these need to be promoted by the India Tourism Burea, said a professor from the University of Delhi. It is embarassing that, for example, people visit the slums when they are in Mumbai, he added.

The tourism market has great potential for growth, given the two countries' combined population of 2.5 billion people and relatively low country-to-country traffic.