Tipping Tour Guides & Drivers in Tibet

Tipping is a generally accepted practise in the tourism industry in Tibet. But my opinion on it is that it should always be performance based and not an obilgation. If your drivers and guide are useless then don't tip!! (But tell them why you don't tip!) If they do a great job and you have a sweet trip then you could work on around $5/day/person pooled and shared amongst your Tibetan staff.

Tipping is always a personal choice thing but I think it is a great way of rewarding your staff for doing a good job and making sure that local Tibetan staff get some extra income that doesn't go to the agency owners and goes straight to their family (as most Tibetan guides and drivers are supporting an extended family)

Just my opinion.....

CJ

I try to give 5-10% of the total trip cost, shared among all passengers. Unless the driver nearly kills you, it is certainly deserved. These guys do tough work; I recall seeing one driver at the end of a particularly tough day, full of thick dust and dodgy detours over multiple snowed in high passes - he was absolutely wasted after it all, but he made every decision the right one...a real pro.

The long haul Tibetan drivers are very good at it, most have a fine attitude and high skill levels - necessary on the tough roads. More than that, they all stop to check out other vehicle's breakdowns to see if they can help. I don't know how much tey get from the agencies - i suspect not enough, another reason to err on the generous side, maybe.

Definitely tip your driver and guide if they did a good job. In many cases the 4WD is personally owned by the driver. He is responsible for all the upkeep on the car. Replacing a Toyota Landcruiser engine or making other repairs are not cheap. Drivers and guides make most of their money during the busy summer months. They have to make enough money to make it through the slow winter. These guys have families to support. In Tibetan culture a person like a driver or guide doesn't just support his wife and kids. He is also supporting his parents and probably to some extent his siblings. I have many Tibetan friends who are guides. Their families made a big sacrifice paying for their schooling (middle and high school and often their university) and paying for them to take the tour guide test in order to get a tour guide license. These guides know the sacrifices their family had to make in order for them to become a tour guide. Many of my tour guide friends in Tibet give 50% of their salary to their family.

Bottom line...if your driver and guide did a good job TIP THEM.

Our guy was fantastic, the trip cost us RMB9000 and we flicked him an extra RMB500. That was between 4 of us at the end of a 7 day trip from Lhasa to Zhondian in which our guide had gone beyond the call of duty. We had to squeeze it out of one stingy bugger but lets face it we each forked out probably less than a days travelling expenses in China. As Losang says there are costs and we don't know how much the drivers and guides are getting paid.

WeiLong in Tibet