Touring China - Tour Companies vs Indepenent Tour Guides

Are you planning on taking a tour through China? If so, one of the biggest choices you will make is how to select a tour service. Should you go with a Chinese tour company or should you go with an independent tour guide? Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

Tour Companies are usually in a better position to give you a comprehensive trip around China. They are affiliated with businesses across the country, such as hotels, tourist attractions and restaurants. This gives them two advantages. The first is that they are likely to be able to provide you with a seamless tour service, taking you to multiple cities in China without any extra thought required on your part. The second is that sometimes they are able to give discounted prices for hotels and flights. However, their affiliations with other business partners have their downsides as well. One is that, for any tour company you contact, you will likely be going through at least one middleman, and perhaps two or three. Middlemen have to make money too, so each step you are away from the actual provider of the tour service costs you money.

Independent tour guides run tours on their own, giving them advantages in tour personalization, knowledge of their location and price. Independent tour guides seldom run fixed tours. Instead, they take their clients on customized tours that are decided on by the clients. For those that want to be able to control their experience more, this is ideal. However, the downside is that the tourist would have to think more when it comes to choosing where to go and what to see.

Another advantage that independent tour guides in China have is their first-hand knowledge of the place they work. They usually focus on the city that they live in and the surrounding area. They both live and work in their city, meaning they aren’t only able to show tourists the tourist attractions, but they are also better able to provide tourists with a more authentic view of city life.

Independent tour guides are usually cheaper, but not always. The actual tour services they provide are usually significantly cheaper, but they lack the clout that a tour company has when it comes to obtaining discounts on hotels or flights. Plus, even though most independent tour guides provide a cheaper service, there are some guides with specialized services that can charge quite a bit. For example, there are guides that are high-level interpreters and experts in certain industries. So, independent tour guides are usually cheaper, but not as a rule.

Perhaps the best part about choosing an independent tour guide is the fact that you get to choose the guide yourself from amongst a huge selection of tour guides. If you are looking at a directory of independent tour guides in China, you’re likely to see a lot more variety – a variety of skills, interests, services and prices. You get to choose the actual Chinese tour guide that will be giving you a tour.