Enforcement Action against Unlicensed Tour Guides

6 Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) (a) how many unlicensed tour guides has the Ministry taken enforcement action against from 2013 to date; and (b) what are the measures that the Ministry has and will be taking to regulate against unlicensed tour guides from diluting the quality of tour guide services in Singapore.

Mr S Iswaran: The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) takes a serious view against unlicensed tourist guides. The STB (Amendment) Act 2014, which came into effect in October 2014, strengthened the powers to investigate and compound offences by STB enforcement officers and increased the penalties for unlicensed guiding offences, to more effectively deter illegal tourist guiding activities.

Over the past few years, STB has stepped up enforcement action against unlicensed tourist guides. Enforcement checks have increased by more than five times from 225 in 2013 to 1,245 in 2015. Since 2013, one licensed travel agent and its director were convicted and fined for engaging unlicensed tour guides to conduct tours, while six unlicensed tourist guides were convicted and fined $1,500 or more for each offence.

STB will continue to closely monitor the situation and take firm action against companies and individuals who do not comply with the regulatory requirements.