The Tour Guide to good living

Just want to share dis article i read frm nst .. my colleague Murnie works as a part-timer in dis line. She's doing well.

LOKMAN Sabar, 50, has everything to smile about despite the current economic slowdown.

As a tourist guide, he takes home as much as RM360 a day.

"I came across about the course in the newspaper organised by Institut Karisma."

Two weeks after completing a course in which he was taught to be well-versed about everything Malaysia, be it historical or geographical, he secured his first assignment.

"Things have been looking good since then."

Lokman said the RM4,000 he paid for the course was well worth the money.

"I really enjoy being a tourist guide as it is a satisfying job and the money is good, too."

Like Lokman, 25-year-old Aeiminaiza Mohd Abdan also took up the course and now earns between RM200 and RM250 a day.

"For a freelancer, the income is very lucrative. Furthermore, this job also has many perks. We can get lunch treats or shopping vouchers."

Institut Karisma offers foreign language courses to ensure that the students can communicate with foreign tourists.

Its founder, Ungku Shamsoon N'Har Ungku Omar, 53, said a good tourist guide must be able to know everything from A to Z.

"But speaking more than a language is important, too. It is difficult to find tourist guides who can speak other languages such as Vietnamese, Korean, German and Russian.

"Thus, it is advantageous to learn a second or even a third language.

"Knowing the country alone is not enough. The more languages you speak, the better it is.

"One of our former students who speaks Dutch earns RM800 per trip and has been touted as one of the best tourist guides around.

"What I want to emphasise here is that one can make a good living, even as a part-timer," said Ungku Shamsoon N'har.