Waiver Programme for Non-English-and-Chinese-Speaking Tourist Guides

To help tourist guides who are unable to take the SUS In-service Tour Guide Training Course and sit the relevant examination because of their inability to understand Chinese and English to obtain the Tourist Guide Pass, the TIC has set up a waiver programme, under which they will be issued with a certificate for the application for the Tourist Guide Pass if they pass an examination designated by the TIC. Details of the waiver programme are as follows:

The applicants must:

1. be those who are unable to take the SUS In-service Tour Guide Training Course and sit the relevant examination because of their inability to understand Chinese and English;
2. be full-time or part-time tourist guides working in Hong Kong;
3. have one year or more than one year's tour-guiding experience in Hong Kong; and
4. be holders of the Hong Kong Permanent Identity Card, or holders of the Hong Kong Identity Card who are not subject to any condition of stay.

The applicants must submit the following documents in order to be qualified for the waiver:

1. Declaration: They must declare in writing that they are unable to take the SUS In-service Tour Guide Training Course and sit the relevant examination because of their inability to understand Chinese and English (download Declaration in German , Declaration in Japanese , Declaration in Korean , Declaration in Thai , Declaration in Vietnamese );
2. Reference from employer (travel agent): They must provide a reference from their employer to verify that they do not understand verbal and written Chinese and English, are its full-time or part-time tourist guides, and have one year or more than one year's tour-guiding experience; and
3. Other documents which can prove that they do not understand Chinese and English: e.g. certificate of birthplace, academic certificates, etc.

All applications will be handled on a case-by-case basis. The TIC may interview the applicants, if necessary, in order to verify the information given by them, or request the relevant institutions to help verify such information.

If any applicant or travel agent is found to have given false information or used forged documents, not only will the application be nullified and the Tourist Guide Pass (if issued) be revoked, the case will also be referred to the Compliance Committee and reported to law-enforcement agencies.

Examination format

The examination, which lasts for one hour, consists of an interview and a simulated road test. Interpreters will be provided by the TIC for the candidates. The examiners will first ask questions in Cantonese or English, and the interpreter will then interpret the questions into the language chosen by the candidate. Answers given by the candidates will be interpreted into Cantonese or English for marking by the examiners.

The candidates need to pay HK$1,000 for the examination fee, plus the fee for interpretation which depends on the hourly rate of individual interpreters.

Study notes in Chinese and English will be provided for the candidates, who need to have them translated into the language which they will use in the examination.

Tourist guides who wish to sit the examination under the waiver programme only need to specify one language when submitting their application. After passing the examination, they will be issued with a certificate specifying the examination language, and a Tourist Guide Pass stipulating that its holder is not allowed to use Cantonese, English or Mandarin in receiving inbound package tours.

If any tourist guides who are granted the waiver are found to have used Cantonese, English or Mandarin in receiving inbound package tours, they and the travel agents concerned will be deemed in breach of the relevant regulations and the cases will be referred to the Compliance Committee and the Tourist Guide and Tour Escort Deliberation Committee for deliberation.

Application procedure

1. Fill in the registration form , and post it or submit it in person to the TIC Training Department together with the relevant documents.
2. After preliminary checking, the applicant will be notified to pay the fees, and collect study notes and other information about the arrangements of the examination.

For further enquiries, please contact the TIC Training Department on 2969-8160 or 2969-8199.