Where are the foreign language guides?

Source: Tourism Update, 31/08/2019

“The impact of not having capable foreign language guides is that
we cannot really grow inbound tourism numbers, especially during
peak season,” says Juliane Loubser, MD of Fairfield Tours. “Now,
whenever we get a peak season request from The Netherlands or
Germany, we have to tell the group that we can only offer the tour
with an English-speaking guide.” Loubser says this often puts the
clients off coming to South Africa. “There has also been an
increase in demand for privately guided tours, which we
immediately have to decline because we know we are short-staffed
on guides.”
Brendan McCarthy, National Head of Operations, ILIOS Travel, says:
“For us to remain a viable destination to emerging markets we need
to cater for their needs, and this includes catering for their
language requirements.” McCarthy says there is an increased need
to cater for emerging markets, specifically Portuguese and Spanish
speaking markets. Other languages, such as Vietnamese, Russian,
and Arabic, remain as specialist languages, according to McCarthy
but he also points out that German- and Italian-speaking guides
remain in high demand.
Alisha Kirk, Guide Academy Manager of Tourvest Destination
Management, says: “There is a language gap, and has been for
years. Our ability as South Africans to be able to speak in our 11
official languages doesn’t assist us in hosting foreign guests who
cannot communicate in any of our official languages. There needs
to be a greater drive to introduce foreign languages at school
level with the ability of introducing exchange programmes with
countries that form part of that programme.” Julie Mackenzie,
Operations Manager of Tourvest DMC, adds: `Most of the guides in-
country with these languages are aged from 40 to 70+ and there are
simply not enough to facilitate the market we already have and
definitely hinder any growth of these markets. The older guides
are by far the most experienced and, often, enthusiastic, but of
course there will come a time in the not too distant future when
they are no longer willing to travel for extended lengths of
time.”
Francois Collin, Media Relations at the National Federation of
Tourist Guides and Affiliates, says the guides who are coming up
do not have the same work ethic as previous generations. According
to Collin, the older generation of guides accepted that they would
be working 16-hour days and driving long distances. “There was no
certificate in those days. All the training was done on the job.”
Now Collin says that young guides do the necessary courses, get
the certificates, and come into the industry thinking they are
qualified.
“They want to walk straight into the top-level guiding jobs,
despite not having the practical experience for it,” he says,
adding that when the realities of the job become apparent, many of
the younger guides decide to leave the industry rather than work
their way to the top
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