Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
An apex body, Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), has expressed concern over the severe shortage of tourist guides in the tourism capital of Maharashtra. Through a memorandum, IATO has urged the union Ministry of Tourism (MoT) for prompt measures, including conducting a crash course for guides on a regional level, to save the tourism industry.
IATO president Ravi Gosain, in a memorandum submitted to the Senior Economic Advisor (MoT, New Delhi) Gyan Bhushan, brought into his notice how the tourism industry is seeing a significant resurgence in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad) in recent years. However, the dearth of qualified guides in the district, is hindering the overall visitors experience which is crucial to the success of the tourism sector.
“ Of the total registered guides, 27 are active. Ironically, 75 percent of these active guides have crossed the age of 65 years, and 7 guides are rendering their services at fixed monuments only. Hence, if the strength of qualified tourist guides is not increased, the tourists would continue to face inconvenience due to shortage. If this continues, the name of the city would be removed from their itineraries,” feared the IATO president.
Suggestions of IATO
Conduct a crash course or training and certification programmes through a local knowledge partner institute. This regional level course will be a boon rather than lengthy course presently conducted by Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) Gwalior.
The Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification Programme does not allow the tourist facilitator (passing candidate) to practice guiding. As a result, he has to do an advanced course to qualify for a guide. This tedious process should be simplified.
Immediately introduce Multilingual Audio Guides at all the ASI sites in and around the district.