How to Tip the Guide and Driver in Tibet

As a professional Tibet tour operator, Tibet Tour always suggests our clients to give tips to the guide and driver according to their work performance. Tipping has been one of the best ways to show your gratitude if you feel you are well served. This article provides information regarding why and how to tip the guide and driver in Tibet.

Some visitors making a Tibet tour might be wondering why should we tip the guide and driver, and we've paid the guide & driver service fee and vehicle rental cost to the agency. Yes, the quotation provided by Tibet Tour always includes the guide & driver service fee, vehicle rental cost, hotel room & meals according to your request, and cost of the admission tickets for the scenic spots listed in the itinerary. There is no doubt that the drivers and guides would get corresponding salary from the agency. But the tips from the clients would be special bonus and encouragement for the drivers and guides' industrious working.

Tourists planning a Tibet tour should know that most drivers in Tibet are not employed by any fixed tour operators. Instead, those drivers work for many travel agencies when their schedule is available. In the peak season of Tibet tour, the demand of vehicles and drivers is much larger than the supply; therefore, it is difficult to arrange driver and vehicle for tourists who book this trip contingently. As we all known, the high tourism season on Tibet Plateau is pretty short, only between June and October, though there is a series of regions suitable for sightseeing all year around. That means, the local guide and driver in Tibet would have few income in the period between November and December for there is only a few work for them.

To certain extent, the living standard in some regions in Tibet is lagged compared to the other regions in the world due to the limited transportation and severe natural environment. Both the drivers and guides have a family to support and visitors' tips will be great help for their family. Besides, tourists might know that the devout Tibetans would donate certain money to the monasteries for relevant renovation in the monasteries. Tourists who've been to Tibet might have found that the scenic spots in Tibet are quite far away from each other and the road is in poor condition in some sections. Hence, driving in Tibet is a quite a challenging and toilsome work in Tibet. The vehicle maintenance also involves a large amount of money every year.

The Tibetan guide is the person who would be with you throughout your Tibet tour. He/she would be waiting for you at your hotel in the morning and send you back to your hotel in the evening. He/she will be with you all the time even when you are trekking in the remote and rare populated areas in Tibet in the rainy season. There is no standard for the tips to the guide and driver. Generally, we suggest our clients to give 80-300 CNY to the guide and driver respectively as tip each day. Anyway, tipping according to their work performance is the best for tourists in Tibet.