Tour guide-a "beggar" who takes kickbacks?

Recently, a media once again exposed the behavior of tour guides taking kickbacks in the program. In the eyes of some people, the tour guide profession is inseparable from kickbacks, and it seems that the tour guide has become a profession specializing in making "black money". However, when the reporter interviewed some people in the tourism industry recently, he learned that the profession of tour guide is full of hardships and helplessness.

Life without salary is so hard.

In the program produced by that media, the reporter took part in the tour group of Hainan Island for three days as an ordinary tourist. As a result, most of the time these days has been taken shopping by tour guides, and little time has really been spent on sightseeing. The tour guide only showed due enthusiasm when selling goods, but the introduction of scenic spots was sloppy. The different performances of tour guides when shopping and visiting scenic spots make reporters suspicious. In order to find out, the reporter temporarily organized a four-person group. The reporter played the role of a tour guide and walked again along the route he had been to the day before. This time, the reporter not only learned about the secret room where the tour guide took kickbacks, but also clearly learned that the rebate given by the store to the tour guide was as high as nearly 50%. Probably it is this high kickback that makes many people envy tour guides as a really good job. Not only can you travel around the world for free, but you can also earn so much money to sleep. But is this really the case? Is this money really that easy to pocket?

In fact, it seems that scenic tour guides are all "three noes" (no salary, no fixed work unit, no insurance). In order to reduce costs, many travel agencies only hire a few tour guides, and temporarily look around for tour guides during the peak season, without paying any tour guides. Tour guides earn only by taking customers' shopping kickbacks and tips. Of course, only foreign tour groups can get tips. For domestic tour guides, because most domestic tourists are not used to tipping, all their income comes from kickbacks (commonly known as "tying shops"). Sometimes you don't pay wages, and you have to pay a certain head fee to the travel agency. For example, the head fee for a Japanese tour group is about 120 yuan. If you want to pick up a Japanese tour group of 20 people from a travel agency, the tour guide must pay the travel agency 2400 yuan first. These days, the tickets, fares and meals of this group also need to be paid in advance by the tour guide, and then reimbursed by the travel agency with the documents. Where can the money come from? Just to "tie the shop".

Of course, it is conditional to reimburse the travel agency, that is, the guests of this group have no complaints. As long as one guest complains, the tour guide will not reimburse a penny. In addition, some travel agencies do not pay attention to reputation and professional ethics, and some illegal black travel agencies also harm the interests of tour guides. Miss Mei, the tour guide, took an American tour group this summer and worked hard for four or five days. However, because a guest was a little unhappy with the shopkeeper when buying cloisonne, he was not well served. As a result, the travel agency not only refused to pay for the tour group, but also refused to give her money for the four tours she joined this month. In the golden month of tourism, Miss Mei not only didn't earn a dime, but earned five or six thousand dollars instead.

It's not just the body that is tired.

Most of these stragglers living in Beijing are foreign tour guides without Beijing hukou. Because there is no formal work unit and stable income, they lack a sense of belonging. Tour guides, the profession of eating youth meals, also give them a little more sense of urgency than other employees. They should seize every opportunity to make money and save money for future emergencies. Without any medical insurance, they are most afraid of getting sick.

The flexible working hours of tour guides enable them to take several groups without rest during the tourist season. In the process of traveling, the uncertainty of working hours determines the uncertainty of working intensity. Once a tour guide joins a tour group, he basically works 24 hours a day. During the day, a group of people eat, travel, use and play, and at night, they stay and rest. In the evening, the tour guide may have to deal with some emergencies, such as helping the guests find a doctor when they are sick, or finding another place to live because there are not enough hotel rooms. According to the schedule, they may get up at five or six in the morning and rest at 1 1 and 12 in the evening. Sometimes you can only rest for three or four hours a day, and the consumption of energy and physical strength is beyond layman's understanding.

In addition, bad weather is often encountered during traveling, which increases the work intensity and difficulty of tour guides to some extent. Many tour guides suffer from different occupational diseases because of fatigue. Miss Liu, with a Japanese delegation, has only been working for four years and has diabetes. She had to bid farewell to the tourism she loved when she was young. Tour guide is a high-paying profession, but it is at the expense of overdraft physical strength, health and even life in advance.

On the other hand, the professional nature of tour guides also determines that no matter what happens to individuals, no matter how picky guests they encounter, they should face them enthusiastically. For example, some tourists come and ask the tour guide to tell dirty jokes again and again, but young and beautiful tour guides have to endure the malicious harassment of individual male tourists. This psychological pressure often exceeds physical consumption.

Tour guides are similar to beggars.

Tourism can be divided into off-season and peak season, which determines that tour guides may be hot in peak season, but in off-season, there are not enough people, so we must find something to do. In order to find some jobs in the off-season, they usually have to have a good relationship with travel agencies, and sometimes they even have to humbly ask for travel agencies, knowing that all tour groups that lose money have to do it, and some tour guides have to give gifts in order to get some better quality tour groups, because the quantity and quality of tour groups directly determine the income and survival of tour guides. Of course, for some inbound tours like Japan and South Korea, most tour guides dare not imagine, because travel agencies usually give tour guides who have a deep relationship with travel agencies. So some tour guides joked that it is better to be a beggar. Beggars earn a net income, but they may not be rewarded for paying so much physically and mentally.

Another reason for calling themselves beggars is that they have to try their best to please guests and sometimes even beg them to enter the store. With the increasingly fierce competition, the media exposed the kickbacks of tour guides, and tourists became more and more disgusted with entering the store. Many people consciously resist this kind of behavior. As tour guides, most people don't want to cheat tourists into the store without conscience and risk being complained. Miss Bai, the tour guide, told the reporter clearly that she only wanted to get the income she deserved, that is, the hard money, service fee and salary given by the travel agency. She hopes that she can work honestly, and everything will be made public according to the tourist route, when to visit and when to enter the store. However, the current situation and system of tourism make their rights and interests not guaranteed, and the competition among tour guides to grab business also aggravates their survival difficulties. In order to get back the cost, tour guides who have paid the head fee have to hide their conscience and self-esteem and try their best to coax tourists into the store, which is an unspeakable torture for most tour guides.

These days, the life of tour guides is even more difficult. Originally 1 1 was the golden month of tourism. Tour guides can use this opportunity to make up for the deficit in the off-season. Due to the "9. 1 1" incident, the number of American inbound tourists in China will drop sharply, and more tour guides will do nothing.

Tourism management needs further improvement.

Just as tour guides have many unspeakable difficulties, it is also a last resort for travel agencies not to pay tour guides. Li Hui, the head of China Travel Agency, told the reporter that the travel agency also wants to sign a term contract with the tour guide and pay his salary and various insurance benefits according to the tour guide's work. This can not only improve the service quality of tour guides, but also better manage and supervise tour guides and reduce complaints and disputes. But now the tourism market belongs to the buyer's market, and it is not easy for travel agencies to "make small profits but quick turnover". More people simply fall below the cost price to engage in vicious competition. Travel agencies are unable to support tour guides, let alone pay them, because their profits can only be obtained by exploiting the labor of drivers and tour guides. For example, at present, Americans come to Beijing to travel, stay for three nights and four days, visit the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven, Dingling and other scenic spots, taste Beijing roast duck, dumpling banquet and other flavor meals, and stay in five hotels. The price of team reception is only 230 US dollars (including listed meals, accommodation, tickets and other expenses). At such a low price, the travel agency has no profit at all, and can only make up for it by charging the tour guide's head fee. But if the price increases, other travel agencies will dig up the group. Therefore, it is obviously urgent to control the vicious competition of travel agencies. Only in this way can China's tourism industry better face the entry of foreign travel agencies after China's entry into WTO.

Manager Li Hui also said that the management and supervision of tour guides should be further strengthened. It is necessary to clarify the scope of duties of tour guides and give them due wages. Once the tour guide neglects his duty and leads the guests shopping without authorization, the relevant departments must go to hell to pay. Moreover, tour guides should have organizations similar to "trade unions" to educate and manage employees in all aspects.

Finally, Manager Li Hui reminded tourists to think twice and ask more questions when choosing tourism products. For example, a three-night and four-day trip from Beijing to Hainan costs only 2380 yuan, while a one-way ticket from Beijing to Haikou costs 1950 yuan. Even if you can get a 50% discount on air tickets, you should return to 1950 yuan. How can the rest of 400 yuan be enough for accommodation, meals, fares and tour guide services for three nights and four days? So before making a choice, be sure to ask what kind of tourism products you bought. More importantly, as consumers, we must remember our rights. If you find that the purchased tourism products are not in conformity with the agreement, you should make a complaint quickly.