ATEC announces major new Chinese Tour Guide Training Project

The Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has announced the launch of a major new training program aimed at increasing the number of bilingual tour guides and improving the quality of service for Chinese visitors to Australia.

ATEC has partnered with TAFE NSW to develop the course that will form part of the Certificate IV in Guiding, including core and industry-defined content with graduates receiving a ‘Statement of Attainment’ from TAFE NSW.

Introducing the initiative, ATEC Managing Director, Peter Shelley stated “with the extraordinary growth in our inbound tourism numbers from China has also come increased demand for bilingual guides.

“Ensuring we provide proficient, quality bilingual guides, with an ability to enhance the visitor experience, is an important factor in our continued success in this lucrative market.

“The growing number of Chinese visitors across the globe, and particularly in competing destinations such as Thailand, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia, is leading to supply side-shortages across the region.

“At present there is a real shortage of qualified, trained tour guides servicing the Chinese inbound market and this course will help to address this shortage as well as ensure the industry has a strong group from which to recruit quality guides.”

The current Chinese Approved Destination Status Code of Conduct requires guides to have specific skills and qualifications in order to operate as tour guides for Chinese tour groups and there is strong demand for quality guides.

Shelley said this new course has been developed with the support of Commonwealth funding, with ATEC co-ordinating the project and leading engagement with the industry.

ATEC has also commenced conversations with representatives from inbound tour operators, attractions, China market expert trainers, Tourism Australia, Destination NSW, TAFE NSW and Austrade in order to begin course development.

He added “it’s important that the industry embraces these qualified guides once they have completed training and for that reason ATEC is committed to involving the industry from the very beginning of the project.”

The course will be developed over the coming months with the first tour guides expected to graduate from the pilot program around by the end of the year.

Steering Committee members at their recent meeting in Sydney (from left):  Richard Taylor, Equity Travel; Lilu Fu, Destination NSW; Anna Taylor, ATEC; Paula Meyer, TAFE NSW; Amanda Glassop, TAFE NSW; Cheryl Zhong, Equity Travel, Garry Burns, Gaibo; Chris Downs, Austrade. Not in photo but on Committee: Richard Beere, Fastrak Solutions; Andy Jiang, Tourism Australia; Jason Naumovski, Austrade.

25th July 2017 - CHINESE VISITORS LOOK TO ENJOY AUSTRALIAN CAMPING EXPERIENCES 

15th February 2017 - STRENGTHENING AUSTRALIA’S TOURISM RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA 

2nd February 2017 - ATEC FLAGS TOURISM AS AUSTRALIA’S BEST EXPORT ASSET 

8th February 2016 - INDEPENDENT CHINESE TOURISTS LOOKING BEYOND THE BIG CITIES

16th January 2016 - ASIAN TRAVELLERS SEEK NEW EXPERIENCES 

12th January 2016 - AUSTRALIA WELCOMES RECORD ONE MILLION CHINESE VISITORS

2nd November 2015 - GROWTH FORECAST PUTS TOURISM AT THE FOREFRONT OF AUSTRALIAN EXPORTS

23rd October 2015 - ATEC WELCOMES POSITIVE OUTCOME TO CHAFTA

21st August 2015 - BIG4 HOLIDAY PARKS PREPARE FOR CHINESE CAMPERS 

18th June 2015 - ATEC WELCOMES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT’S 10 YEAR CHINA VISA

30th March 2013 - DELIVERING HIGHER QUALITY EXPERIENCES FOR CHINESE VISITORS