Continuing Professional Development
The objectives of the Continuing Professional Development Scheme for Tourist Guides (the CPD Scheme) are:
- to encourage tourist guides to constantly absorb new knowledge and upgrade themselves, and
- to systematically maintain and upgrade tourist guides' professional knowledge, skills and ethics.
Tourist Guide Pass holders who renew their Pass for the second time or subsequent times.
- People holding the general Tourist Guide Pass (who can use any language to receive inbound package tours) and those holding the Tourist Guide Pass for English-speaking tourist guides (who cannot use Cantonese or Mandarin to receive inbound package tours) must fulfil the requirements of the CPD Scheme.
- People holding the Tourist Guide Pass for non-English-and-Chinese-speaking guides (who obtain the Pass through the Waiver Programme for Non-English-and-Chinese-Speaking Tourist Guides or the Accreditation System for Non-English-and-Chinese-Speaking Tourist Guides and cannot use Cantonese, Mandarin or English to receive inbound package tours) are temporarily exempted from the CPD Scheme until further announcements.
- Non-English-and-Chinese-speaking tourist guides who obtain the general Tourist Guide Pass by completing the SUS In-service Tour Guide Training Course (course discontinued) may choose to: (i) take part in the CPD Scheme in order to renew their Pass, which does not have any restriction on languages to be used; or (ii) not take part in the CPD Scheme, in which case they will only be issued with the Pass for Non-English-and-Chinese-speaking tourist guides when renewing their Pass, and will not be allowed to use Cantonese, Mandarin or English to receive inbound package tours.
When tourist guides renew their Pass for the first time, they only need to submit a renewal application form and will then be issued with a new Pass. For second-time or subsequent renewals , they must first fulfil the requirements of the CPD Scheme in order to meet the basic criteria for renewal of their Pass.
Tourist guides must fulfil the requirements set out below in Items A, B and C in order to be considered to have completed the CPD Scheme:
A. Consolidation and updating of knowledge Content: "Knowledge on Hong Kong" (information on scenic spots, basic facts about Hong Kong, relevant statistics, etc.)
Mode:
- Attend a "Knowledge on Hong Kong" Workshop held by organisations recognised by the TIC (to be launched by the end of October 2009 ; please contact the relevant organisations direct for the commencement dates), OR pass the "Knowledge on Hong Kong" Quiz .
"Knowledge on Hong Kong" Workshop: The workshop, which lasts at least six hours, will be held by organisations recognised by the TIC.
"Knowledge on Hong Kong" Quiz: The TIC will issue a new edition of "Knowledge on Hong Kong" each year for tourist guides' reference and self-study. Quizzes will be held regularly for tourist guides (a fee is needed). The quiz consists of fill-in-the-blank questions. The number of resits is unlimited.
Requirement: Tourist guides need to attend the workshop OR pass the quiz before applying for their Pass for the second time or subsequent times.
B. Professional ethics Content: Professional ethics, "Honest Travel", legal liability related to the work of tourist guides, etc.
Mode:
- Mainly specialised seminars or case-study workshops (each lasting for about 2.5 to 3 hours).
- Specified or regularly organised by the TIC.
- Tourist guides may freely choose suitable seminars or workshops to attend (fees are needed).
Requirement:
- Tourist guides need to attend one seminar or workshop lasting for 2.5 to 3 hours before applying for their Pass for the second time or subsequent times.
- The number of hours exceeding the requirement will not be carried over into the next CPD period (a CPD period refers to the three-year period when the Tourist Guide Pass is valid).
- Download enrolment forms for specialised seminars
C. Self-selected courses
Content:
- Upgrading of skills: Crisis management, communication skills, complaint handling, sales techniques, quality service and tour safety.
- Personal development: Emotional Intelligence, pressure relief, language acquisition, personal grooming, and other related courses.
- Please click here to view specific examples of the two kinds of self-selected courses.
Mode:
Tourist guides may freely choose relevant courses to take, but such courses must be related to tourism or tour-guiding*. They may contact the TIC Training Department on 2807-1199 to check whether a course is related to tourism and tour-guiding.
Requirement:
- Tourist guides need to submit the attendance certificates of the courses taken to show that they have spent no less than 12 hours on the relevant courses before applying for their Pass for the second time or subsequent times (examinations are not needed).
- Tourist guides may take several courses to accumulate the required number of hours, but the number of hours exceeding the requirement will not be carried over into the next CPD period (a CPD period refers to the three-year period when the Tourist Guide Pass is valid).
- For tourist guides whose Passes are valid between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2010, if they enrol on specified SUS courses** before 1 July 2007 and complete such courses on or after that date, their studying hours will still be counted as within the relevant CPD period.
| * | Ticketing courses, outbound tour escort courses, pre-service tourist guide courses and the Tour Guide Training Course (II) under the Tourism Industry Skills Upgrading Scheme (SUS) are excluded. |
| ** | Specified SUS courses include "Basics of Nature Appreciation", "Cultural Tourism: Heritage, Monuments and History of Hong Kong", "Customer Services and Effective Communication Skills for Travel Agency", "Practical Putonghua for Tourist Guides and Tour Escorts", "Practical Putonghua for Operational Staff of Travel Agencies", "Practical English for Tourist Guides and Tour Escorts" and "Practical English for Operational Staff of Travel Agencies". |
