Date of Release: November 7, 2016

On November 5, the 2016 National Qualification Examination for Tour Guides took place in 32 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across China. This was the first time for the examination to be held in a unified manner and with the paperless, computerized model be adopted in the written section of the examination. ATA provided professional computer-based testing services, such as testing technology, test delivery, and test center monitoring throughout this process.

In the first half of 2016, China’s tourist market expanded steadily. The number of domestic tourists hits 2.236 billion, an increase of 10.47% over the same period of last year. It is expected that the total revenue from tourism will amount to 4.13 trillion yuan in 2016. However, the rapid development of tourism industry and the pleasure of tourists from traveling were somewhat overshadowed by the inharmonious pictures of tour guides abusing and insulting tourists.

In order to regulate the tour guides market, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and other departments concerned has taken a series of measures so far. In late 2015, the CNTA issued the Notice on Improving Relevant Works on Administrative Review and Approval for the Verification and Issuance of Practitioners Qualification Certificate for Tour Guides (Lv Ban Fa [2015] No. 202), stating that: the CNTA shall manage the National Qualification Examination for Tour Guides in a unified manner and the competent tourism departments at the provincial level shall be responsible for the specific work within its jurisdiction; meanwhile, the National Qualification Examination for Tour Guides shall be tentatively held once a year in November from 2016 onward

On November 5, the 2016 National Qualification Examination for Tour Guides took place in more than 2,800 test sites in 32 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across China. This was the first time that the Examination be held in a unified manner. To ensure a smooth progress of the examination, ATA, the organizer of the examination, made full preparations for the event such as pre-examination arrangements, establishment of emergency preplans, etc. Meanwhile, professional supervisors and technicians were dispatched to the test sites. In addition, the CNTA and tourism bureaus at provincial and municipal levels have also attached great importance to the examination and sent relevant personnels to test sites for tour inspections on November 5.

This is not the first time that ATA provides testing services for tour guides qualification examination. Since 2014, ATA has provided paperless computerized test services to the qualification exams for tour guides in Beijing, Guangzhou, Guizhou and Gansu consecutively, and worked together with regional customers to promote tour guide qualification examination to shift from paper-based to computer-based, and from self-organized by different provinces to a national unified exam.

This examination consists of two sections: written test, which is computerized and includes several subjects such as policy and laws, tour guide business, basic knowledge for national tour guides, and basic knowledge for local tour guides; and on-site test, which is designed to assess tour guide service abilities. All candidates who sit and pass the exam will be granted the permanent “Tour Guide License”. During the examination, ATA provided not only professional testing services to the written section in an all-arounded way, but also technical services and delivery services to on-site test section in Beijing, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Hainan.

(If there is any inconsistency or conflict between the English and Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.)