Rough guide for tour guides

Pon (kneeling, right) with a group of tourists in front of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building in Kuala Lumpur before the pandemic hit.

THESE are turbulent times for tour guides as the movement control order and closure of borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic have badly impacted the tourism and travel industry in Malaysia and by extension, their livelihood.

Although the Federal Government provided RM600 relief to tour guides under the 2020 Economic Stimulus Package as well as one-off financial assistance of RM500 this year to 14,000 tour guides, it was by no means enough to sustain them as there was hardly any tourism activity for the past year.