Do American tour guides need licenses?

The latest situation is the need for a tourist guide card, which will soon change.

American tour guide card

For a long time, the United States has not implemented a nationwide practice access system for the tour guide industry, which has led to the uneven quality of ground tour guides, and also brought quality hazards to the large-scale reception of China tourists, but this situation will soon change.

According to Jim Redkapp, chairman of American Tourist Association (NTA) who recently visited Shanghai, at a media meeting held in Shanghai, NTA is actively discussing the qualification system of tour guides to ensure the quality of service to tourists.

Reid Cooper said that the American Tourist Association is an important national non-governmental industry organization in the United States, with more than 265,438+000 members, including airlines, hotels, car rental companies, shopping centers, travel agencies and other tourism-related enterprises. In 20 10, President Obama signed the Tourism Promotion Law and signed an executive order on June 5438+0 this year, announcing a more open visa policy for tourists from China and Brazil, which greatly increased the number of China tourists visiting the United States. Therefore, it is necessary to implement the tourist guide card system to improve the ground connection service for China tourists.

He further revealed that at present, the American Tourism Association has set up an action group to conduct a preliminary study on how to implement this tourist guide card system, including its content, procedures, training and education.

From June, 5438 to February, 2007, after China and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the China tourism team to travel to the United States, the door for China citizens to travel to the United States was officially opened. At present, there are more and more tourists visiting the United States and China. Rhett Cooper, who also runs a tourism enterprise in Hawaii, said that his intuition told him that more and more people from China are visiting the United States. Take Hawaii as an example. The number of China tourists in Hawaii was more than 30,000 the year before last, and it was more than 60,000 last year. According to the momentum estimate in the first quarter of this year, it will reach at least 90,000 in 20 12 years. "The problem now is that there are not enough seats on the flight to America." Therefore, it is very important to provide professional ground connection service for China tourists.

According to reports, according to the agreement reached between China National Tourism Administration and the US Department of Commerce, the American Tourist Association is responsible for monitoring the reception quality of tourists from China. At present, the American Tourism Association has provided the China National Tourism Administration with a list of 138 American travel agencies that have been certified to receive tourists from China, and published them on relevant websites of the two countries.

Shanghai insiders pointed out that the number of tourists from China to the United States reached 6.5438+0.089 million last year, a year-on-year increase of 36%, and it is expected to reach 2 million this year. This huge increase is undoubtedly a huge business opportunity for American businessmen, but if the phenomenon of "speaking Chinese can take the tour group" continues, it will undoubtedly harm the interests of China tourists. Therefore, we welcome the introduction of the tourist guide card system in the United States.

In addition, the United States has not had a national tourism promotion agency for many years. After the promulgation of 20 10 Tourism Promotion Law, a national non-profit tourism promotion organization-"Brand USA" was established with the financial support of the US government and the sponsorship of private institutions, which was responsible for promoting American tourism around the world. Paul Celula, chief business development officer of Brand America, who came to Shanghai together, said that in the next few months, they will set up an official representative office or agency in Beijing or Shanghai to promote American tourism in China.