Event Round Up

Waiting to be heard

The twelfth annual conference of the Tourist Guides Federation of India dealt with many issues - some long-pending and some new. But it is still struggling to get proper recognition in the industry and have its problems heard and addressed. By Anupama Sushil

Inaugurating the twelfth annual Tourist Guides Federation of India (TGFI) conference at the Durbar Hall, City Palace in Udaipur, Ashok Kumar Sharda, its president, said that the foremost requirement of the industry is to have educated and well-trained guides. He emphasised that new circuits and destinations need to be developed and guides inducted in those regions. Bilingual guides are the most needed in the country. He also added that even after the guidelines and compensation have been revised, they are not being followed yet. "We are still at the stage of appealing, but now we need to move quickly," he said. The Archaeological Survey of India also needs to do a lot at the heritage sites and educate tourists about the monuments.

It is the guides who make the difference in making a tourism experience worthwhile. Guides directly interact with the tourists and they need to be completely satisfied mentally and monetarily to deliver their best. The three main things, he said, that were bothering the guides the most are fewer assignments, no prompt payments and low respect at work. He appealed to the ministry to help them achieve these so as to help them make a better career.

This year, the World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations was represented by president Rosalind Newlands at the conference as TGFI has joined the world body. This will help it come to the forefront and understand global guide trends and practices. It will also make them more aware of the global standards and norms that are needed to be followed. There is a problem in recognition of the professional guides but that will have to be addressed by the government. Guides have a role to play even in emerging segments like eco-tourism and cruise tourism.

Sanjay Kothari, additional director general, ministry of tourism, Government of India, said that the ministry has always supported the guides. Kothari stated, “Out of the entire budget, travellers spend about five to seven per cent on guides. Thus it is important that they undergo a refresher course regularly. While the ministry is forcing all to take this refresher course regularly and has put a condition of passing the exam. Only then would the license will be renewed for practice.”

The association does not agree to this, thus the ministry and the association will be working on a middle path. The federation in the meanwhile has suggested that there should be total transparency in conducting the interview and the selection should be done on merit basis. It emphasised that the exam should be taken in the language selected only and should be primarily judged on their speaking ability.

Expressing his views on the challenge of license renewal, Sharda said, “Taking a refresher course is absolutely necessary for updating th guides but renewal of their license should not be based on it. The present condition of renewing the license only on successful completion of the course is not acceptable to the federation as the existing guides are well experienced and it would not be fair to cancel license just like that. Moreover, the ministry recently changed the guidelines for license renewal even without consulting the practicing guides which clearly show the importance of guides.”

The conference discussed TGFI's participation in several tourism committees. It has been seen in the past, said Sharda, that even when the practicing guidelines were changed for the guides, the association was not even intimated about the step. Moving on to the problem of fewer bilingual guides, Sharda explained that there are many but they aren't counted as they are not ready to work on fancy terms of the tour operators. So an inaccurate number is given out. With the approaching Commonwealth Games, the ministry plans to induct more guides, which is worrying the guides who already have few assignments.

Discussing the deteriorating working conditions of the guides, TGFI president stated that the tour operators do not pay as per the standards set by the ministry. Protecting this basic right of the guides was of utmost importance, he said. Also guides are a second preference to the tour operators. The travel agents also create immense pressure situations forcing them to take the tourists for shopping to only certain shops that pay commissions, whereas the ministry of tourism clearly states that any such practice encouraged by the guide is strictly unethical. Therefore there is a strong mismatch leading to complications. Sharda stated that the federation was looking forward to cooperation from the local guide associations for breaking this existing nexus of travel agents and commission-giving agents.

However, according to Himmat Anand, founder of Tree of Life Resort & Spa, shopping is an integral part of travel and the agent-guide nexus is inevitable. "But a solution has to be devised so that the conflict ends and both can benefit from it. Even the guides should be open to thinking out of the box and come up with alternate revenue options; they need to make the lean period profitable," he said.