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■不少旅行社趁地質熱潮推出地貌導賞團，但因缺乏規管，質素參差。圖為東平洲地質公園。資料圖片
政府將爭取今年內獲得國務院推薦，向聯合國申請將香港國家地質公園升級為「世界級」。不少旅行社趁着地質熱潮推出地貌導賞團，但因缺乏規管，質素參差。香港地貌岩石保育協會主席吳振揚表示，現正推出地質導賞員考核計劃，首批12名學員已成為準導賞員，待半年的試用期後，便可成為正式地質公園導賞員。
吳振揚形容坊間導遊質素欠保證，聽過有旅行社調派購物團的導遊，用於地質導賞，結果指鹿為馬，向遊客胡亂介紹，誤認其他岩石。他稱，有導遊把本應是火山灰冷卻而形成的凝灰岩，錯誤講解為熔岩冷卻而成。他又稱，岩石經地殼移動的壓力造成彎曲，有導遊卻錯誤地歸咎於海水沖刷。
在大埔地質教育中心從事地質導賞員的林惠芳，經審核後已成為首批準地質導賞員之一，年多來帶團約2,500人。她稱，外間有導賞團竟以兩名導遊帶領百名遊客參觀，有關安排難以應付遊客所需。她認為導賞員與遊客的比例應為1：25。
吳振揚表示，漁護署本月中將開設新網頁，內有已獲認證的導賞員資料，並列出合理水平的導賞價，以便公眾參考。
Assessment Programme for Geo-park Tour Guides
The HKSAR Government is hoping to obtain this year a recommendation from the State Council to submit an application to the United Nations for upgrading the national geo-parks in H.K to the world class level. Taking advantage of the geological mania, many local tour operators have been scrambling to roll out geo-park tours; however, these tours are not sufficiently regulated and they vary in quality. Chairman of the Association for Geoconservation Hong Kong Mr Young Ng said that the association had already launched a geo-park tour guide assessment programme. The first batch of the programme consisted of 12 trainees who are now serving as tour guides on probation; they would become official geo-park tour guides after a probationary period of 6 months, he said.
According to Ng, there is no guarantee when it comes to the quality of unofficial guides provided by tour operators in the market. He had heard of stories about shopping guides being assigned to geo-park tours, and as a result, visitors were given irresponsibly incorrect information such as mistaken rock types. Ng mentioned a tour guide who wrongly described tuff, a rock type which was formed by the cooling of volcanic ash, as lava cooling. In another example, an innocent tour guide, not knowing that buckling of rock was caused by pressures generated during the earth crust movement, told visitors that it was caused by sea waves.
Lam Wai-fong, who works as a geo-park tour guide in the Tai Po Geoheritage Centre, has just passed the assessment and become one of the probationer guides. She has already served approximately 2,500 visitors in about more than a year. She said some operators in the market grouped as many as a hundred visitors into one single tour with only two guides. Such an arrangement, in her opinion, could never meet visitor needs and to her, the optimum ratio of guide to visitors should be 1:25.
According to Young Ng, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department is going to launch in June a new website which will include the information of qualified tour guides and reasonable tour prices for public reference. ■Translation by開明
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