Today, marked day 1 of the ” International Tourist Guides’ Day” (ITG) celebrations at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg – Gauteng.
The Department of Tourism together with with the Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) joined tourist guides from all over South Africa to discuss ways to create sustainable tourism economies and jobs.
Tourist guides from all over the country shared their experiences, highlighting areas which have been hindering guiding experiences, with some posing a threat to their jobs.
The tourism industry contributes significantly towards economic growth and ensuring sustainability within this sector is always key.
Guides have been put at the forefront of tourism, they have become the face of tourism, leading us through the country’s sites and more importantly have become educators of South Africa’s attractions.
Some of the issues put forward by guides were:
- Training needed to penetrate within local communities
- One of the biggest issues is that theres no training of guides as there is a lot youth looking to also join the industry.
- Resolve the issue of local communities feeling sidelined when coming to Township tourism
- Safety of tourists guides at the brink of Corona virus outbreak
- What measures are set in place to ensure the guides are protected/ safe ( Corona virus)
- The impact of taxi industry on guides
- Language challenges as guides are exposed to people fromall over the globe
The government has been tasked with looking into :
- making partnerships with private sector to grow tourism, and this can be achieved through offering training.
- Tourist guides health insurance
- Guides protection
- Guides receiving staples (salaries)
With all the issues put forward, Morongoe Ramphele, National Registrar
of Tourist Guides admitted that to move forward government has to ensure that it pays more attention and effort towards such gatherings and monitoring and evaluating these processes.
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