China is expected to have 64 million foreign tourists in 2010, putting it in third place of the world's favourite destinations, while by 2020 it will become the most popular country for travellers, according to a strategic forecast of the World Travel & Tourism Council.

The country received 31 million visitors from overseas in 2005, which is set to increase by 29 per cent to 41 million this year, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) says.

But it is a bittersweet situation for China's travel services - the delight at the huge market potential is tempered by a shortage of skilled tour guides, especially at the high-end segment.

As overseas travel services have entered into China via joint ventures and have been allowed to set up solely funded organizations since the start of the year, they face the same problems.

Official statistics show there are more than 200,000 qualified guides for sightseers around the country, of which only a few hundred are competent to receive foreigners or lead groups outside of China.

CNTA says that China's professional tourism colleges and universities can provide around 100,000 graduates annually.

But only about a quarter of them will choose to become tour guides, far less than the predicted market demand, especially given the coming 2008 Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Talent war

Liu Qiande, vice-president of Beijing Travel Association, believes that current competition between travel businesses in China focuses on recruiting the best talent, and will intensify even more in the coming years.

Various services bid for senior professionals with attractive salaries and packages, including bonuses and insurance schemes. Guangzhou Nanhu Travel Service recently offered a 300,000-yuan (US$37,037) annual salary, equivalent to a senior executive in a multinational company in China, for an experienced senior travel guide.

Though the actual income will be flexible - maybe higher or lower - in accordance with the person's performance, the wage is still lucrative, insiders say.

A Hong Kong citizen ultimately secured the position, indicating that overseas Chinese and Chinese returnees are highly regarded in the tourism industry, as they are more familiar with tour operations and service standards in the developed regions and nations. Their knowledge of the culture of foreign nationals limits the impact of language and customs problems.

One-to-one or individual services, developed in China for several years and which can cost thousands of yuan a day, are maturing. Unique themed packages, such as Tibet culture tours, western desert exploration, South China river travel and rock climbing tours have been promoted thanks to the existing senior and capable tourism professionals and the intensified market competition. At the same time, however, requests for the quality of services to be improved are amplified.
Service consciousness

The basic requirements for a foreign tour guide in China are strong language skills, a rich knowledge of the local conditions, not only natural but also social, familiarity of customs and living styles, competency to deal with emergencies or unexpected accidents, as well as sound relations with local governments and embassies or consulates.

In the long run, due to the ever-increasingly intensified competition, a travel guide in this specific sector should boast the ability to design unique lines and packages to satisfy the high-end individual clients, and develop projects to differentiate his or her services from rivals, as well as organize and co-ordinate the operation of various teams.

Most importantly, and rather complicatedly, gifted high-end travel guides should be people with acute service consciousness - being considerate, careful and scrupulous - and have bubbly personalities.

"The above, attributed to training and experience as well as an inherited gift, is difficult to be measured via hard assessment tools," says Wang Ligang, professor with the Tourism Institute at Beijing Union University.

Wang further stresses the job of a travel guide has both physical and mental demands.

On the Chinese mainland, the position of a tour guide is somewhat regarded as a job for young people; in some developed nations, however, older people are welcomed, especially for cultural, museum and some other in-depth tours, says the professor.

'Fast progress'

Experts say China should boost the senior tour guide pool via the expansion of education channels.

Wang believes vocational education should be improved, with on-the-job training enabling guides to put their theoretical knowledge into practice.

"We expect China to further enhance its travel service soon, but we have already seen fast progress in the past few years," says Hanawa Akihiko, a Japanese businessman who has worked in Beijing for five years and takes his family travelling around the country nearly every year.

He suggests domestic travel firms introduce some practical training courses or experienced experts from developed tourism markets to effectively upgrade services.

Editor: Yan