The lack of basic salary system for tour guides in Guangzhou has caused a lot of problems for travelers, as some tour guides try to supplement their salaries by bringing their travel groups to places where they can receive kickbacks.
The city is therefore planning to create a salary system for tour guides, including basic salary, service charge and allowance in order to improve the quality for the entire travel market in the city.
Wang Xiaoling, vice mayor of Guangzhou, said that the travel agencies must include "tour guide service charge" in their quoted prices, which will be a basic guarantee for tour guides' income. Also travel agencies should sign a formal labor contract with those professional guides according to relative rules of the government, and pay them and provide insurance for them as stated in the contract.
Moreover, for those part-time tour guides, travel agencies also need to sign an employment agreement with them and pay them and offer insurance following the specified standards. Travel agencies can also not ask for any commission from tour guides.
Wang says that the city will investigate ways to create a tour guide qualification system so that all the tour guides in Guangzhou will face an annual inspection.
