KOTA KINABALU: Female tour guides who have been forced by their agents to sleep together with male guides are urged to report to the Sabah Tourism Board (STB) so that the ministry in charge will be able to revoke the tour operators’ licences.
Assistant Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Bolkiah Ismail said tour guides from different genders sleeping together in the same room should not be happening in the State.
“This issue has been discussed in the ministry and we have directed STB to look into this due to complaints we received from certain parties.
“Tour operators should follow the rules and regulations by giving different rooms to male and female tour guides,” he told reporters after launching local VCD MTV Karaoke Sri Baru at Hyatt Recency Hotel yesterday.
The issue was raised again after a recent report in the Chinese media highlighting a tour guide’s claim that a tour bus driver, who was sharing a room with her, had sexually assaulted her in Malacca.
Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Senator Heng Seai Kie also warned tour agencies that they risk having their licences revoked if they continued to force male and female workers to share rooms.
She said they must abide by the ruling made by the Tourism Ministry in 2009 following complaints of this practice in the tour industry.
The ruling requires men and women guides to stay separately during tours.
Meanwhile, the part-time tour bus driver has admitted that he tried to force himself on his female colleague in a hotel room in Malacca.
Expressing his remorse, China Press quoted him as saying: “I am wrong for hurting the woman. I hope she will give me a chance by not lodging a police report.”
It was reported that the driver, in his 50s, asked the 29-year-old tour guide to have sex with him in their hotel room. (Apparently, the tour agency had arranged for them to share a room together.)
“The travel agency has refused to hire me again. I hope they will forgive me so that I can continue to work for them,” he said, adding that his wife had ignored him since news of the incident broke out.
The guide said the driver had tried to kiss and sexually harass her, but she would not lodge a police report as she was worried about losing her job.
Malaysian Women Tourist Guide Association president Erina Loo Siew Ming said they would lodge a police report.
“We understand her (victim) situation, so we will not force her to lodge a police report. But we will do it for the sake of female tour guides,” she said.