Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian will instruct an investigation to be carried out into a report that tour guides from China have a virtual monopoly over their local counterparts.
"This is the first time I have heard about this, I will instruct my counselor and also the Chinese consulate-general in Penang to investigate it.
"In principle, we are opposed to any behavior that disrupts the tourism market," Bai Tian told reporters after attending a meeting with Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Mah Siew Keong in Putrajaya.
According to him, the probe will focus on Pulau Langkawi first, as it where such allegations originated from.
He was responding to a recent report in Nanyang Siang Pau that local Chinese tour guides in Pulau Langkawi are losing business to their counterparts from mainland China, who charged fees lower than the one imposed by accredited local guides.
This, the report said, was because of the acquisition of local travel agencies by Chinese consortiums, which in turn, hired China nationals as guides due to cheap labor.
According to the report, the Chinese guides charged RM180 a day, compared to the RM250 charged by local guides, and this has resulted in some 500 Chinese-speaking local tour guides not receiving a single booking until the Chinese New Year.
The report also claimed that the China guides fed inaccurate historical facts to tourists during their trips.
Ban Tian stressed that Malaysia and China have always had good cooperation in the tourism industry, and Malaysia is also one of the favourite destinations for Chinese tourists.
"Last year, about 2.5 million China tourists traveled to Malaysia, and we encourage more China tourists to come and visit Malaysia because it has beautiful beaches and is a shopping paradise.
"We hope to see a good tourism market and a standardized tourist management system in countries that are destinations to China tourists."- Mkini
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