Lawmaker Ron Lam advocates for quicker training and incentives for tourist guides

Lawmaker Ron Lam wants the authorities to expedite the training process for tourist guides and increase incentive packages to facilitate the development of the tourism industry.

His opinions were expressed in an inquiry recently submitted to the government through the Legislative Assembly.

According to Lam, “As of January 2025, there were 1,824 holders of Tourist Guide Licenses issued by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), with some of these guides registered as being able to speak more than one language,” he wrote. He added that information provided by MGTO mid-year last year indicated that those registered for such a job could offer services in Cantonese (785), Mandarin (1,189), English (156), Japanese (78), Korean (28), and Thai (22), with the number of guides able to provide tours in other languages being fewer than 10.

The lawmaker noted that, according to visitor statistics for 2024, there is significant demand for tour guides, particularly due to increases in visitors from South Korea and India in tour groups. This, he said, supports his claim that there is a need for more and better-trained guides in Macau.

He remarked that, for now, only one of the Macao University of Tourism’s (UTM) training courses for this job is available, and it takes over one year to complete.

Citing feedback from applicants, Lam said that the courses are “excessively long and not suitable for the job,” suggesting that these courses have kept people “occupied” and off unemployment lists for some time before they quit and pursue other jobs.

The lawmaker complained that the course modules are very spread out, with significant time gaps, making it difficult for enrollees to complete the program logically and efficiently.

He urged the government to make proper adjustments to the courses, which, he said, have a total duration of just 135 hours but take over one year to complete.

He also called for the reduction of bureaucratic hurdles to accelerate the process and allow residents to obtain their licenses faster so they can begin working.

The lawmaker further noted that the availability of language proficiency examinations is minimal and does not align with policies targeting international visitors.