Visitors and foreign tourists are at the Gyeongbok Palace in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Sept. 20.NEWS1
As tourism surges in Korea, a licensing rule change intended to increase the number of foreign-language guides may be good news for visitors — but not for many certification holders.
Under the Tourism Promotion Act, travel agencies must assign a licensed guide when serving foreign tourists. Certification, open to any nationality, is acquired through a national exam.
Starting in April of next year, however, the rules will change for two years for French, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Arabic. In August, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism gave advance notice of a partial amendment, under which speakers of those languages will be able to receive a temporary license, valid for two years, after completing 200 hours of training without taking the exam.
For guides who earned their licenses the conventional way, the change stings. A French influencer who has lived in Korea for nearly nine years earned a French-language guide license last year after being recruited to lead tours. The influencer spent a year preparing for the exam, which consists of a written test in four subjects — Korean history, tourism resource interpretation, introduction to tourism and tourism law — followed by an interview.
“I thought of it as important work, conveying the history and culture of another country,” the influencer said. “Counting only the time I invested in studying, it would have exceeded 2,000 hours.”
“Even after getting my license, I could only work in the field after taking 200 hours of state-funded training and building practical skills,” said a first-year English-language guide. “I question whether people who complete short-term training will be able to work properly.”
A second-year Thai-language guide suggested a different fix. “It would be better to strengthen the history and practical subjects of the exam, which is held once a year, and increase the number of exams to two or more,” the guide said.
A guide, center, who does not appear to be wearing a tourist interpretation guide license, speaks to tourists at Imjingak in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 1, in this photo provided by a JoongAng Ilbo reader.JOONGANG ILBO
Some guides also worry the change will lead to more misrepresentations of history on tours.
“In June at Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan, I saw an unlicensed foreign guide explaining, ‘Korea uses Chinese characters because it was a Chinese colony for 5,000 years,’” said a second-year English-language guide.
A Russian-language guide described a similar scene. “In July at Bulguk Temple in Gyeongju, I saw an unlicensed travel agency employee wrongly telling tourists, ‘Most Koreans are Buddhists,’” the guide said. “There are many cases like this even now, and if the temporary license system is introduced, the license will become meaningless.”
The government is pushing ahead despite the concerns because the number of guides has not kept up with tourist demand. Foreign arrivals reached 15.05 million from January to August, up 21.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. The number of licensed guides, meanwhile, rose just 2.45 percent on year to 42,122 this year, according to the Culture Ministry. Industry estimates put the number actually working in the field at less than half that.
The shortage is more severe for less widely spoken languages. Visitors from Spanish-speaking Mexico rose about 286 percent from 22,000 in 2023 to 85,000 last year, and Italian visitors rose about 72 percent from 47,000 to 81,000 over the same period. Yet Korea has only 234 licensed Spanish-speaking guides and 14 Italian-speaking guides. World Youth Day, to be held in Seoul next August, is also expected to bring about 400,000 young people from abroad. The ministry cited these figures as its reasons for pursuing the change.
“We selected the language groups that need increased supply after discussions with the industry,” a ministry official said. “This is not to undermine the foundation of the licensing system but a complementary measure to respond to a work force shortage.”
Guides and travel agencies alike have called for training more guides in less widely spoken languages since the Covid-19 pandemic ended.
“It would have been good if guides had been trained earlier, but I hope that even through this temporary license system, the number of guides entering the industry increases,” said the head of a travel agency. “History and practical training must be included in the 200 hours so there are no problems in the field.”
The Korea Tourist Guide Association, one of the groups that has been in talks with the ministry, framed its acceptance of the plan as a compromise.
“We didn’t accept it because it is a perfect system, but reviewed it as a realistic alternative to protect the foundation of the national licensing system while fending off pressure to abolish it,” an association official said. “For long-term work force replenishment, along with an official assessment of guides’ work status, structural improvements are needed that guarantee opportunities and income so that being a guide becomes an attractive profession.”
With the advance notice period over, the ministry is now arranging a review schedule with the Ministry of Government Legislation and aims to finalize the amendment by the end of the year.
“We are preparing to include history and practical training within the 200 hours and to administer a test with a passing cutoff,” a ministry official said. “We will work to foster guides in less widely spoken languages, including by providing training so that residents with migrant backgrounds can obtain licenses in those languages.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
