18-7-2023 (BEIJING) A tour guide in China has sparked controversy after waking up a sleeping passenger on a tour bus and demanding that she not sleep during the commentary of tourist attractions. The tourist, a woman who has not been identified, was on a weekend tour group in the southwestern city of Lijiang when the incident occurred. A video uploaded by the woman showed the guide asking her: “Don’t you think sleeping on the bus means you don’t respect me?” The guide claimed the woman needed to show “mutual respect” and that the bus would move on only after she was completely awake.
Netizens on Chinese social media criticised the guide’s demands, saying tourists spend money to travel and play and not to show respect to a tour guide. When the Lijiang culture and tourism bureau launched a probe into the incident, it revealed that the guide, surnamed Zhang, was not licensed to be a tour guide and had organised the tour illegally. Zhang now faces a fine of 100,000 yuan (S$18,400).
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Zhang is not the only guide to have complained about tourists falling asleep during their commentaries. In June, a snoring tourist angered a guide on a sightseeing trip in China’s far-western Xinjiang autonomous region. The guide stopped his commentary to wake the tourist and chide him for a lack of respect. The incident also prompted widespread attention, after which the guide apologised to the tourist.
