Can One Become a Tour Guide Without Attending a Tourism School?

Clause 1, 2, 3 Article 59 of the Tourism Law 2017 stipulates the conditions for issuing tour guide cards as follows:

1. Conditions for issuing domestic tour guide cards include:

a) Having Vietnamese nationality, residing in Vietnam;

b) Having full civil act capacity;

c) Not suffering from infectious diseases, not using narcotics;

d) Graduating from an intermediate level or higher in tourism guiding; in case of graduating from an intermediate level or higher in another discipline, a certificate in domestic tour guiding is required.

2. Conditions for issuing international tour guide cards include:

a) Conditions stipulated in points a, b, and c of clause 1 of this Article;

b) Graduating from a college level or higher in tourism guiding; in case of graduating from a college level or higher in another discipline, a certificate in international tour guiding is required;

c) Proficiently using the foreign language registered for practicing.

3. Conditions for issuing on-site tour guide cards include:

a) Conditions stipulated in points a, b, and c of clause 1 of this Article;

b) Meeting the requirements of the on-site tour guiding proficiency test organized by the provincial tourism authority.

Based on the above provisions, the conditions for issuing on-site tour guide cards do not require graduation in a tourism-related discipline, only requiring:

- Having Vietnamese nationality, residing in Vietnam;

- Having full civil act capacity;

- Not suffering from infectious diseases, not using narcotics;

- Meeting the requirements of the on-site tour guiding proficiency test organized by the provincial tourism authority.

=> Therefore, even if you have not studied at a tourism school, you can still work as an on-site tour guide if you meet the above conditions.

Respectfully!