Laos warns foreign travel companies to use local tour guides
Laos authorities have warned foreign tour operators to utilise local tour guides or face the possibility of heavy fines.
The threat comes after a report says a number of overseas based tour companies, mostly from China and Thailand are not working with local tour operators and Lao tour guides or only using them for a few days, which violates current regulations.
Some inbound groups use local companies for just two or three-day packages and then lead other activities and tours themselves, said Xaysombath Bounnaphon, deputy director general of the Tourism Management Department.
While the industry wants to see action to stamp out the practice to protect local jobs, the lack of good quality bilingual guides is an issue.
"To some extent, it is our problem that we cannot provide tour guides capable of speaking the languages of particular countries," said Saleum Khamphengvong, vice president of the Lao Association of Travel Agents.
Xaysombath acknowledged a shortage of tour guides able to speak Chinese, Korean, and also European languages such as Spanish and Italian.
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