Hello Friends, you can call me “Bao Loc”. I am a native of Saigon and genuinely love my city as living here with my family: my beautiful wife Bich, my sons Kaka 12 years old and Messi 7 years old.
How I became a professional tour guide
I founded Xin Chao Private Vietnam Tours in 2008. Since then, I have had the fortune of working with an amazing team from South to North Vietnam. Together, we strive to constantly offer the best experiences of our city and country to our clients.
It was back in 2005, when I was working at a local restaurant Arab Kebab in downtown Saigon, that I began helping travelers learn Vietnamese and find their way around the city. From there, I also was able to help business people and expats with their issues navigating life in the city. I soon discovered that I had a knack in connecting with and helping foreigners visiting or living in Saigon and another city in Vietnam. And in 2008, I traveled with Michigan University professors to evaluate Charity project of Heifer International Organization along my country. After 2 weeks Amy and Paul suggested me to work as a freelance guide because they enjoyed my hospitality of showing them alleys, markets, delicious food in Saigon. They saw Saigon through local eyes and things that could not be found on tourist books.
I proudly became a Saigon Local Ambassador and got many bookings from American customers on Craigslist. Fortunately, I met Dwight, an USA veteran who built the website free for me. From that moment I got more opportunities, until 2010 I explored that I was recommended on TripAdvisor by Lara who did tours with me and her son in Saigon – Cuchi and Tay Ninh.
I self-studied everything more about my country and traveled more with my customers, all tours customized and personalized not only in Saigon, but along Vietnam.
It was my fortunate again to meet Chris in Saigon in 2015, after one day city tour he helped me build a business page on TripAdvisor, called Nguyen Viet Bao Loc, later in 2017 I changed the name into Xin Chao Private Vietnam Tours.
From this stage I also got more bookings and started finding another great locals or tour guides who strive for excellent customer service and local experiences.
Now we want to find, inspire and help more Locals become Local Ambassadors
At Xin Chao we believe every local has a good story to tell about family, alleys, village, food… but they just do not know how to use English to tell their stories and their stories are valuable to travelers. Therefore, we build a process of 9 steps to help a local become a professional tour guide. Through this process, a local first becomes a Local Ambassador which is a very important step because it helps them not only to be able to improve English and make extra income, but find the meaningful job by sharing local experiences to travelers with more pride and passion like I did, then with our more guidance and their choice they will become a professional tour guide.
“The more Locals become Local Ambassadors, the more Successful we are”
For a better Vietnam!!!
We are from a country that if your English skills are good then for sure you can make more money, get more opportunities then absolutely have a better future. Whether you live in the big city Saigon, Hanoi or just in a small village as Bac Ha, Sapa, you are welcome at Xin Chao to be a local ambassador. With passion you can become a professional tour guide like I do.
Our mission is not only helping as many travelers as possible have excellent private tours and explore great local experiences in Vietnam, But also helping Locals use English to tell travelers their great stories and pride.
Contact Us today for a job opportunity !!!
