David Tseu
Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar
KOTA KINABALU: The protest staged by a group of tourist guides at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) on July 15 was driven by money and greed.
Tourism and Culture Ministry (Motac) Sabah director Ag Ahmad Zaki Abu Bakar said a meeting had been held with the relevant parties on Monday, including the Sabah Tourist Guides Association (STGA) and Sabah Native Registered Tourist Guide Association (PBBNS).
“One of the things we have established in the meeting is that neither PBBNS nor the STGA were involved (in the protest).
“We also managed to establish the fact that there is no such thing as illegal tourist guides,” he said in a press conference here yesterday.
Ahmad Zaki said a tourist group would have a tour leader, a representative of the company who brought the tourists into Sabah, as well as a local licenced tourist guide as required under the Tourism Industry Act 1992.
If the tour leader is more dominant in showing the tourists where to shop, he or she will get the commission. Similarly, if the tourist guide is more dominant in determining where the tourists go, he or she will be able to collect the commission.
“These protesters are mostly Chinese-speaking guides who are more into shopping itinerary or shopping tours.”
Ahmad Zaki said the meeting on Monday had established that the protest was money-driven.
He said Grace Leong, who has now stepped down as the president of STGA, had admitted that the Chinese-speaking tourist guides who were oriented towards shopping tours have been receiving commissions, which was not allowed under the Tourism Industry Act 1992. He added that Leong had also confessed that she was not representing STGA in the protest.
Depending on the types and volume of products tourists purchased, tourist guides could collect as much as RM10,000 a month in commissions, he said.
“But according to the law, it is illegal for tourist guides to receive commission.”
He said tourist guides who received commissions would be fined RM1,000 on the first offense and be brought to court on their second offense.
“The maximum penalty is RM5,000, two years’ imprisonment or cancellation of licence,” he warned.
Ahmad Zaki said said only tour companies were allowed to earn commissions, not tourist guides.
On Leong’s statement saying that there were about 1,000 Chinese-speaking tourist guides in Sabah, Ahmad Zaki said some of the registered tourist guides have actually resigned or become tour operators but still kept their licence for remembrance.
Logically speaking, he said there were still enough Chinese-speaking tourist guides to support the industry after subtracting those individuals.
However, he said tourists guides have their standard hiring rates and were now demanding more than what was supposed to be paid. Ahmad Zaki said some tourist guides would choose an itinerary that entailed shopping over visiting national parks, or declined a shopping-oriented itinerary because the number of tourists was too few.
“They are being choosy. They claimed that they have gone for two weeks without a job, but the industry is flourishing so they pinned the blame on illegal guides. They are manipulating their statements.
“This has become a trend that has to be stopped.”
He said Motac was now looking into guides taking commissions.
“I am giving a soft reminder to stop this (collecting commission) immediately because it is illegal under the Tourism Industry Act 1992.” As to the reason English-speaking guides are less involved in shopping itinerary, STGA honorary secretary David Tseu said they concentrated more on the interests of tourists, be it nature, wildlife or special interests.
“People who come for special interest tours are not interested in shopping. They will probably only buy handicraft.
“English-speaking guides are more on showing the nature or beauty of the places tourists visit.
“And we are paid for our expertise in leading the tour,” he said.