Taiwan has plans to train more tour guides who can give tours in Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thai. That’s due to the growth of the tourism industry to Taiwan.
Last year, Taiwan saw over 10 million visitors. Over 4 million came from China and over 1.6 million came from Japan. Hong Kong and Macau accounted for over 1.5 million visitors and Southeast Asia for over 1.4 million. There were over 600,000 tourists from South Korea, 470,000 from the US and 270,000 from the EU.
Tourism official Chen Chiung-hua explains the need for guides who speak more Asian languages.
Chen said, "There are currently 260 guides who speak Korean but we need about 30 to 40 more. Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese also represent an emerging market. We have 27 guides who speak Indonesian, 47 who speak Thai and 18 who speak Vietnamese. But as we are promoting the Southeast Asian market, our need for guides will multiply."
In the past two years, the tourism bureau has held two training sessions and 35 guides have received licenses. Of these, 34 are new immigrants and 25 are now working as tour guides. Chen said the next course will begin in April.