Before you book

Guide licences in Vietnam: what to ask for

Every legal tour guide in Vietnam holds a card issued under the 2017 Law on Tourism. There are three kinds, and only one is meant for foreign visitors touring the island. Here is how to tell them apart and what to ask.

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The law in one paragraph

Vietnam's Law on Tourism, No. 09/2017/QH14, was passed on 19 June 2017 and took effect on 1 January 2018. Article 58 sets out three kinds of tour guide and their cards, Article 59 says who may hold each card, and the duties of a guide at work are set out later in the same law. Fines for breaking these rules are in a separate decree. None of this is exotic: it is the reason a guide on Phu Quoc wears a card and carries a sheet of paper with your route on it.

Sources: Law on Tourism No. 09/2017/QH14, Thu vien Phap luat · checked 2026-10-11.

Three cards, three scopes

Card	Who the holder may guide	Validity	Main requirement
International (quoc te)	Inbound foreign visitors and domestic tourists anywhere in Vietnam, plus outbound tours	5 years	College-level degree in tour guiding (or a guiding certificate with another degree) and fluency in the registered foreign language
Domestic (noi dia)	Vietnamese citizens, anywhere in Vietnam	5 years	Training requirements set out in Article 59
On-site (tai diem)	Visitors within one tourist area or site only	—	Pass a provincial test in on-site guiding

For a foreign traveller hiring a guide for a day around the island, the card to look for is the international one. A domestic card is for guiding Vietnamese citizens. An on-site card covers one attraction and stops at its gate, so a guide holding only an on-site card cannot legally take you on a route across the island.

Sources: Law on Tourism No. 09/2017/QH14, Thu vien Phap luat · checked 2026-10-11.

Who can hold a card

A guide card requires Vietnamese nationality and permanent residence in Vietnam. Foreign residents cannot hold one, however good their local knowledge. Decree 45/2019 on administrative penalties in tourism sets a fine for foreigners guiding in Vietnam, alongside fines for guiding without a card and for businesses that use people without cards.

A card on its own is not quite enough to work. Under Article 58, a guide also needs a labour contract with a travel business, or membership of a professional guiding association for international and domestic guides, plus a guiding contract or a written assignment from the travel business for the tour in hand.

Sources: Law on Tourism No. 09/2017/QH14, Thu vien Phap luat; Decree 45/2019/ND-CP on administrative penalties in tourism, LuatVietnam · checked 2026-10-11.

What the law expects of a guide on the job

Wear the guide card while guiding.
For international and domestic guides: carry the travel business's assignment document and the tour programme in Vietnamese.
Follow the tour programme.

In practice this is why we write your route before the day, and why a guide who wants to swap one area of the island for another will message the office first. It protects you as much as the guide: if something goes wrong, there is a written record of who was responsible for what.

Sources: Thu vien Phap luat, duties of tour guides, 29 Nov 2023 · checked 2026-10-11.

Five things to ask, politely

May I see your card? A working guide should be wearing it. Look at the type: international for a foreign party.
Which company assigned you today? The answer should match the business you booked with.
Is the card in date? International and domestic cards are valid for five years.
Which language did you register? The international card requires fluency in a registered foreign language.
Do you have today's programme? A one-page route in Vietnamese is normal; it should match what you agreed.

None of these questions should offend a professional. If the answers are vague, you are entitled to ask the company you booked with before you set off.

What a licensed guide does not do

Guide outside the card's scope: an on-site guide cannot run an island tour, and a domestic card is not meant for foreign parties.
Change the day into something else entirely without the company updating the programme.
Stand in for a boat crew, a lifeguard or a medical interpreter. Those roles have their own rules and training.
On our bookings, drive the car. When a car is booked, a separate driver handles the road.

About fines, briefly

Decree 45/2019/ND-CP, in force since 1 August 2019, sets fines for guides who do not wear their card, who work without a card, or who guide outside their card's scope, and fines for businesses that use uncarded people as guides. The decree has since been amended in 2021 and 2025, so we do not quote amounts here. The point for you is simpler: an uncarded guide is a risk the business takes, and if anything goes wrong, it is a risk you share.

Sources: Decree 45/2019/ND-CP on administrative penalties in tourism, LuatVietnam · checked 2026-10-11.

How we apply this

Every guide on our bookings holds an international card and works under our written assignment. Your confirmation names the guide before the day. English is the language we plan around; for any other language, ask for availability and we will say plainly whether we can cover your date. To see how a day is built, read how to plan a day with a guide, or start from one of the four guided days.

Common questions

Questions travellers ask most

Can a foreigner who lives on Phu Quoc be our guide?

Not legally as a tour guide. A guide card requires Vietnamese nationality and permanent residence, and the 2019 penalties decree sets a fine for foreigners guiding in Vietnam.

Is a hotel driver who shows us around a guide?

Not in the legal sense, unless he also holds a guide card. A driver can take you places; a carded guide can explain them and is accountable to a travel business.

Does the guide need a card for a short walk in town?

The law draws no line by length. A guide working for a travel business wears the card whenever guiding.

What does an on-site guide do?

Guides visitors inside one tourist area or site, after passing a provincial test. You may meet one at an attraction; they do not run island-wide days.