We arrange tour guides for you who all love travel. They like making friends and sharing Chinese culture. We hope our tour guides can be your friends in China. They will treat you like friends and provide the best possible service for you.
1. Qualified Guides
Our tour guides are all English major graduates who have passed the official qualification test that is managed by the China National Tourism Bureau. We also provide tour guides who have a mastery of other languages, such as French, Spanish, Italian, German and Russian, but extra charges will be needed for their services. So if you need a non-English tour guide, remember to make it clear when you fill out the forms. That way, we can inform you of the extra charges needed.
In each city, we will arrange the local tour guides for you. So they will not accompany you to other cities. After all, the local guides know their regions best!
Most of the tour guides, male or female, are young. After all, young people have the energy and physical condition required for such a profession. When they get older, they tend to retire or turn to other careers. Tour guides can be generally categorized into many types: single or married with children, dedicated or hospitable, talkative or quiet. All are always ready to help others; some have a good knowledge of history; some like outdoor activities; some have a passion for photography; some like the arts, etc.
2. Guide You Prefer
Tell your travel advisor what kind of guide you prefer. For example, you may like energetic, young and cute tour guides who are always ready to help you all along the way. Or alternatively a quieter, more mature person or … you tell us! If you don't have such special requests, we will arrange our best tour guides for you. After a day's tour, if you find that you don't actually like the guide that we arranged for you, you can call your travel advisor, who will organise another one to meet your requirements.
3. Income of a Guide
A tour guide's total income usually comes from the guide’s basic salary, bonus and tip. Offering tip is a way to recognize your tour guide's service, and also a great encouragement for the guide to be further engaged in the tourism industry. When you are touring around each of the cities covered in your itinerary, the tour guide will ask whether you want to visit some of the shops selling local specialties, which usually can offer bonus to the guide. It usually takes 30 to 60 minutes to visit these shops. The guide usually suggests shops specializing in such items as cloisonné and pearls (Beijing), terracotta soldiers and jades (Xi'an), silks (Hangzhou), pearls and ink and wash paintings (Guilin), Thangka (Tibet), and embroideries (Chengdu). There is no forced shopping in our tours. It is up to you to decide whether to visit or not.
4. Evaluation
You will receive a China Culture Tour Evaluation Form from your tour guide. The form is designed to evaluate the performance of the tour guide in a comprehensive way. The scores you give will have a bearing on the bonus and ranking of your tour guide. The one who provides quality services will have a higher ranking so that they can receive more groups. Please, evaluate your tour guide objectively.
5. Tips
Sensitive as it is, tips are widely accepted in the tourism industry. Each tour guide and driver relies on, and will certainly expect tips from you as a way of recognizing their services and ability. You can tip your driver according to their ability and the services you receive. Normally, 30-50 dollars for each group per day is thought to be the standard level. You can certainly tip more if your tour guide's performance turns out to be great! For example, if they have a warm heart, excellent English proficiency and a wide range of knowledge. For such an impeccable tour guide, you can definitely tip them as a way of recognizing excellence. Tips for drivers are often half those of the tour guides. If the driver helps carry your luggage and drives along a bumpy or even dangerous road, you can also tip them more.
