WE DESERVED THE TOUR GUIDE FEE

Today, I have recieved a few sms saying that the Yang Guang tour guides are cooperating to fight and maintain the tour guide fees. It is really a very good news and I am very happy about it. I also pray and hope that every tour guides won't undercut the guide fee in the future...

Please remember, when we have our own tour guide fees, we portray our professionalisms in our work. We are so lucky that we are not the Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore tour guides (for China market) because right up till today, they still do not have any tour guide fees at all.

Since we are the last country that these China visitors visiting us, their spending power is getting so much weaker. Part of our income comes from the commission that we earned from the shopping. So, please think, how long and how much can we rely on these shopping commissions if we do not have any tour guide fees at all.

Please think of the sacrifices that we forego when we were guiding....

On the first day of the China group, we have to wake up at 5am. We have to be at Mandarin Court hotel by 6am to catch the bus to the Second Link. We have to pay RM10 on our own, which we cant claim from the travel agent, as a transportation fee to the driver to support him for the petrol money.

Then we have to wait for hours under hot sun for the groups to arrive from Singapore. Do you realise, there is no fan and no air condition room for us while waiting for the tourists? Isnt it a real suffer waiting in the humid sun like that?

Upon recieving the tourists, our work begun. We have to talk and talk to the tourists and to serve them at any time. God knows what happen if there is any bad incidence or accidents happen to our tourists. We, tour guides again are responsible.

On average, for the China tour guides, we easily work for at least 12 hours per day. Its basically almost non stop of commentarty for a few hours each day.

The third day, again we have to bump our ass on the seat from Genting to Johor Bahru.

And on the final day, we have to wake up from 3 - 4 am to send off the group. Some travel agents even warned tour guides if we do not follow them to Singapore, and if the group did not get to fly off, we tour guides have to be responsible and bear for all the costs. Worst still, if we have to back another group again on the same day. How much of sleep do we have?

And if we dont have groups, after sending off the group, again we have to fork out our own money to buy the express bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur. Now that the petrol price increased, I wonder how much we have to pay for the ticket.

When we finished off our assignments, again we have to pay the file fees of RM20 - RM30 to the travel agents. Please go and ask other markets tour guides what is file fee... They will laugh you off. I am lucky that the travel agents that I work with do not require me to pay the file fee.

Do you realise how much of cost incurred while you are doing the tours? Have you ever calculated all the costing (food, drinks, tipping for driver, spending driver, etc) during the tours?

If I wanted to list down all the sacrifices, money and energy, that we gave in during the tours, the list actually can go on and on...

So, all my fellow tour guides, can you imagine how much of energy, time and effort that we sacrifice for the job? When we are with our groups, we reach home so much later than any other people. (Usually, when I got home, my whole family members are all asleep). Then again, we wake up so much earlier than any other people. (They were still sleeping when I took off for work). Dont you miss your family members when you are at work? This is one of the biggest sacrifice for the tour guides.

Worst of all, within these few years, I am sure you could have heard of some tour guides even have to bear the costs of the flight tickets, pay compensation for lost of luggages, pay compensation for whatever complaints by the China tourists, etc.

So, my dear fellow tour guides, please wake up. Please realise the responsibilities that we have to bear and the sacrifices that we made just for the job of a tour guide. We DESERVED to be paid for our tour guide fee.

It is really in the bottom of my heart that all tour guides are cooperating and standing united to fight for what we deserved to have. So, please... make sure that we have our tour guide fees and nothing lesser than the RM150.00 per day of guiding fee.