Myanmar lacks French speaking guides

YANGON, 6 March 2014: Myanmar Tourist Guides Association says the country needs more tour guides who can speak French to serve an increase in French tourists.

Guide association chairperson, Zaw Win Cho, told local meida that Myanmar has witnessed a substantial increase in French tourists visiting the country. There is a shortage of professional guides fluent in French and under the country’s laws, foreigners are not allowed to take up guide assignments.

About 160,000 tourists from western Europe visited Myanmar last year. Among them, French tourists represent the largest segment at over 35,000 tourists.

Currently, there are more than 3,000 tourist guides in Myanmar, but only 277 of them speak French, according to statistics from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

Thailand is the largest tourist supply market followed by China and Japan but officials say there is not an acute shortage of guides for these markets.

source: TTR Weekly

http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2014/03/myanmar-lacks-french-speaking-guides/