Last Friday, the Chinese Tour Operators Association in France issued a rare public statement titled “Safeguarding Legal and Compliant Operations, Opposing Illegal Drivers and Guides Arriving from China.” The statement directly accused unlicensed drivers and guides from China of disrupting the European Chinese inbound tourism market.
According to the statement, these groups of unlicensed Chinese drivers and guides mainly operate through major domestic travel platforms and related agencies. They typically rent vehicles—mostly post-2017 or 2018 models—in countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, France, and Italy at a rate of around €80–120 per day, and then dispatch drivers and guides to work in Europe using tourist visas.
The statement also warned that these groups are rapidly expanding and plan to enter the Icelandic market by the end of 2025.
Jian Li, a well-known Chinese tour guide based in Vienna, Austria, said: “What everyone in Austria’s guiding community is talking about now is how the standard cost of a nine-seater Mercedes minivan with driver-guide has been pushed down to €280 per day. Normally, we need at least €300–400 a day just to cover fuel, vehicle wear, insurance, and labor. Any lower, and licensed guides like us simply can’t survive.”
It is worth noting that as tensions between licensed Chinese inbound operators and unlicensed drivers from China become more public, the ones most likely to be affected in the future may well be ordinary Chinese tourists.
After all, once European visa authorities become aware of the widespread use of Schengen tourist visas for illegal commercial work, a tightening of visa approval for Chinese tourists is almost inevitable.
