The programme, which will get financial assistance from the EU, aims to evaluate the overall performance of tour guides but also improve their performance and service quality.
In a pilot phase until December, the Vietnam Tour Guide Association will assess the performance of tour guides in HCMC, Hanoi and provinces such as Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa and Lao Cai.
The assessment criteria will include guiding capacity, knowledge and skills and candidates will get ratings from three-star to five-star, according to Vu The Binh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Tourism Association.
In the pilot phase, only members of the VietnamTour Guide Association would be eligible for the programme, he said.
It would be scaled up next year with the completion of regulations and criteria for ratings and all tour guides in the country would be encouraged to join, he said.
There are more than 23,000 licensed tour guides in the country, including 14,428 international guides and 8,412 domestic guides.
But only 5 percent of them are contracted with travel firms and get monthly salaries and social insurance coverage, while the rest are freelancers.
