International Tourist Guide Day is a dedicated professional day celebrated each year on February 21. This observance was established by the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA) and has been held since 1990.
The WFTGA was founded in February 1985 at the first International Convention of Tourist Guides. Nowadays, the association represents more than 2,000 thousand individual tourist guides from over 70 countries. It is the only global forum for tourist guides from all other the world that unites individual tourists guides, tourist guide associations, educational institutions, and tourism partners.
The first International Tourist Guide Day was held in 1990. It was proposed by the then president of the WFTGA Titina Loizides. This day is aimed at raising public awareness about the fact that tourists’ guides are cultural ambassadors of the regions they represent.
In 1990, fifteen countries participated in International Tourist Guide Day. Since then, the number of participants has been constantly growing. Members of the WFTGA are encouraged to hold events to draw the attention of fellow citizens, the media and local authorities to the important of the work of tourist guides and tourism in general.
A Tourist (or Tour) Guide: “A tour guide leads the visitors and the group to carry out the all information about the location where they wish to visit and satisfy the customers in order to their queries”.
Basic requirements to be a Tourist Guide:
- Good customer service skills
- Organizational skills
- Time management skills
- Research skills
- Safety training, and above all
- Excellent communication skills
A Walking Tour (with your Tour Guide)
Visiting tourism sites to just appreciate nature; animals, plants or vegetation, valleys, rivers, and other water bodies as well as hills and mountains is one of the best experiences. However, this experience cannot be complete without the help of tour guides. They take you from one place to another in the entire walking tour the tourism sites in an orderly manner.
They have vast knowledge on how to deal with animals and the general appearance of the site, they have considerable knowledge of the cultural heritage of the place which you are visiting and they know how to make you spend an unforgettable trip. Tour guides dealing with nocturnal wildlife ensure that the client sees as many animals as possible within the time paid for. They are trained in searching and focusing for small animals in branches of trees for example or in the caves too.
Why Local Tour Guides?
The following are the importance or benefits of local tour guides:
- Their experience makes trips enjoyable and educative:
Experienced guides have a wide history concerning the tourism site. They have been in the profession for a good number of years which means they know everything about the site. Therefore, the tourist is able to learn a lot in the entire walking tour or traveling tour with the help of the experienced guide.
- They help YOU save time:
It can be tiring queuing a line for hours to be a tour guide on the same day you are to go for the trip. Therefore, hiring a tour guide earlier which is done through online booking by logging in to the tour guide advisor account can be a great deal to help you save your precious time. This time is then spent well on the trip where you get to learn a lot at a good pace because you have adequate time.
- They are flexible:
Flexibility is one of the greatest advantages while hiring local tour guides. They operate as per your request. This means that you are the one to inform him/her of the best time and place you are comfortable with to do the touring.
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