A proposed amendment that would transfer administration of examinations for tour guides from the Ministry of Examination to the Tourism Bureau has passed its first reading in the Legislative Yuan.
The amendment to the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例) was drafted in response to rising demand foreign-language speaking tour guides as a result of the government’s New Southbound Policy and to eliminate overlapping test subjects, Minister of Examination Huang Ching-chang (黃慶章) said.
Certified tour guides who want to acquire certification in other languages, such as Thai, Vietnamese, English or Indonesian, will have to take foreign-language tests, Huang said.
Given the increasing number of new immigrants seeking to be tour guides, but could not due to limited Chinese comprehension skills, the draft amendments also propose reducing the number of questions in written tests from 80 to 50 for new applicants.
Reducing the number of questions would not affect the test’s difficulty, Huang added.
In related news, travel agencies have lodged protests with the bureau over new regulations mandating that there must be two drivers for seven-day, six-night tour packages.
With the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan declining since last year years, many drivers have sought other vocations, the Travel Agent Association of Taiwan and the Taipei Association of Travel Agents said.
Calling the new regulations “ridiculous,” the associations accused the bureau of “overreaching its jurisdiction” as tour bus affairs should be regulated by the Directorate-General of Highways.
The policy would be unnecessary if proposed amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that would make work hours more flexible are passed, the associations said.
The bureau’s policy might encourage travel agencies to compress travel time for longer itineraries, which would make drivers even more tired, National Joint Association of Bus for Tourists president Lin Chien-liang (林建良) said.
The bureau said the policy serves as a reminder to bus operators to observe the Labor Standards Act and the Act on Transportation Management (汽車運輸業管理規則), allowing drivers to swap out when their time is up and preventing them from working overtime.
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