When it comes to doing a Private Tour - ABSOLUTELY

**Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong for 53 years - I know the place.**

**I have personally completed 2,340+ Private Tours and Experiences (over 6,500+ guests) since April 2011 and I am considered one of the finest Private Tour Guides in Asia.**

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Private Tours of Hong Kong - Does the guides age matter?

When it comes to doing a Private Tour - ABSOLUTELY

Me, Jamie | Your Very Experienced Hong Kong Private Guide

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Look at the image, I am NOT a young guy, I have been around the block and I have lived in Hong Kong for 53 years and counting, I have been married for over 40 years and we have 3 adult sons, the youngest is 25.

Here are some facts and figures I would like to share with you based on the 2,330+ Private Tours of Hong Kong that I have done since 2011.

Ages of my guests and the % of that age range of the Private Tours done

10 - 19 years old 0.2%
20 - 29 years old 3.8%
30 - 39 years old 10.6%
40 - 49 years old 22.9%
50 - 59 years old 32.4%
60 - 69 years old 23.2%
70+ years old 6.9%

The key point of these statistics is that 96% of people who book a private tour of Hong Kong with me are over the age of 30, I am not very popular with people under 30! I am guessing that young people under 30 probably take free tours or group tours which are obviously more affordable and the actual tour content is not that important to them.

I was born to be a private tour guide and if you have lived in Hong Kong for 10+ years and you are over 35 you will have more than enough knowledge, I have been in Hong Kong for 53 years since I was 11 years old, I KNOW Hong Kong and I expand my knowledge daily because I want to, it is such a fascinating place.

One of my little jokes so to speak is that I could do an 8 hour tour of Hong Kong sat in he lobby of the Peninsula Hotel, I have the gift of being a storyteller.

I had a conversation with our youngest son recently as he has expressed an interest in becoming a Private Tour Guide, I was thrilled by this but I also think that at 25 (and an English teacher) he needs more life experience to do well and I pointed out to him that he could learn the ropes so to speak by learning the trade doing free tours or group tours and spending his time researching, visiting places and taking photographs.

…. and on the subject of photographs, my FLICKR site which can be accessed on this sites menu, well, I have uploaded 175,000+ images of Hong Kong and counting.

Yes, I have strong feelings about being a tour guide and age, I do not believe that really anyone under the age of 35 has enough life experience to be a tour guide particularly when you are dealing with people who have very impressive occupations, I took up being a private tour guide when I was 49 | 50 already married with 3 sons and a lifetime of work experience as a consultant, most of my Private Tour Guide friends are over 35 and trust me Tour Guides get better with age, do not underestimate life experience it is critical to the whole tour experience.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board scheme to interact with visitors to Hong Kong, see below and I have no doubt that they will scrap this scheme as soon as AI gets more mature and it sucks that they rely on volunteers, they should pay them to do this!

The Hong Kong Tourism Board - PALS scheme 2024 | 2025

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The Hong Kong Tourism Board has a scheme called PAL running and for while, in a nutshell Hong Kong residents are hired to promote Hong Kong and give out factual information and such and as for this scheme goes, they are keen to hire young folk, well most 18 - 25 year old’s that they to hire have just left school or University, what on earth do they know about Hong Kong, Hong Kong History and Life when their own life revolves around social media on their phone and going out socialising etc, I would much rather chat to an older person who has that “life experience”

I have a hard time believing that young kids have the life experience to deal with people who are generally much older and remember this whole PALS initiative by the Hong Kong Tourism Board is on a volunteer basis so I am pretty sure they do not get paid and the old maxim applies, you get what you pay for and seriously do you think 18 - 25 year old young folk are qualified to talk to foreign tourists about Hong Kong?

The other thing that worries me is the “Holistic training from Hospitality Experts” I know all about Hong Kong Government Training schemes which involves a lot of rote learning and filling your head full of totally useless information and doing stuff that has NO relevance to doing an actual Private Tour.

I have only 3 pieces of advice for people wanting to be a Private Tour Guide

Treat your guests in the same way as if you where giving friends and family a tour of Hong Kong
You have to be prepared to devote a lot of your time on researching, ie visiting sites, neighbourhoods and such and reading anything and everything of relevance, it is a non stop learning process 7 days a week 365 days a year.
You have to be prepared to discuss Hong Kong in detail and not just paint a rosy picture of a Utopian City, you have to get into the nitty gritty and not shy away from difficult subjects, your guests want the unvarnished version of what makes Hong Kong such a unique city, they want to hear about the REAL Hong Kong!

To me a couple of months rote learning Government guidelines will not make you a great tour guide, you either have the gift or you don’t.

… and for the record I have done quite a few tours in Hong Kong in the interests of research and learning and I am always horrified that guides rely on memorised scripts and rely on visual aids and such and with large group tours they do not interact with 40 guests individually, there sole aim is NOT to lose anyone on the tour.

Perhaps you are getting the idea that I am all about the quality of the experience.!

Hong Kong is an amazing city and as a visitor there is only one way to experience Hong Kong and that is to take a Private Tour of Hong Kong with an older and more experienced guide.

I have also written extensively about English fluency (as an example) in Hong Kong, sadly there are far too many people who do not speak fluent English at a level acceptable to foreign visitors… I should point out that I do not speak Cantonese the local Hong Kong Chinese Language despite been married for over 40 years to a wife whose native language is Cantonese, I simply do not have the language gift despite many attempts at trying and lots of money spent on private tutors and I do not pretend that I can speak a little of it or understand it and here is a tip for you, in my experience in Hong Kong English fluency these days is a lot more prevalent in OLDER residents NOT younger residents.

A lot of my friends who are also Private Tour Guides have on their books Hong Kong Chinese Guides who are brilliant, they have had all their useless Government training knocked out them, a lot of them are probably well over 40 which is perfect, I was fortunate in that I lived in Hong for 25 years under British rule and now 28 years under Chinese rule, which means I have rather a unique perspective on Hong Kong and anyone that has lived in Hong Kong for 40 years will have that perspective as well, something to bear in mind.

Finally, see below, I can tell you now that dealing with guests with such diverse occupations is a gift, it is not easy, I know that when I was under 35 I would not have had the confidence to deal with many of these wonderful people but as I got older I was able to relate more and more, what’s that old chestnut? - with age comes wisdom!

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The quality of your Hong Kong Tour | Experience is absolutely dependent on the quality of the guide you choose to book, please choose wisely.

13 reasons to book a Private Tour of Hong Kong

The size of the group is limited to 1 - 6 people
Itineraries customised to your personal specifications with unrivalled flexibility
Go at your own pace based on your personal dynamics and circumstances
You can choose the date and starting time and it can cost a lot less than you think!
Beat the crowds! you will absolutely maximise the time for actual sightseeing
You get a local resident | expert with an insiders knowledge of Hong Kong - the ultimate benefit
Flexibility on changing the itinerary during the tour if required
An opportunity to make amazing memories with family and friends
An in-depth learning and participation experience
You will get a great value for money experience and you will get the best guides
The undivided attention of your Private Tour Guide
Going from attractions A to B to C to D to E seamlessly and hassle free with an expert
You will absolutely have a lot more fun! (p.s. and someone to take your picture!)