Tourist guiding needs a licence

May I congratulate the enforcement officer(s) of the Malta Tourism Authority who recently had the guts to book a teacher for guiding a foreign student group without a licence within Valletta.

Nearly 40 years ago, through the Tourist Guide Service Act of 1965, the wise men and women who represent the people of this fair land decided that is was in the interest of the tourist, tourism and society in general that guiding of tourists should be regulated. The same way that someone needs a licence to drive a motor vehicle, it was deemed necessary that a guide obtain a licence after proof of competence and not just against payment!

When someone is found driving a car without a licence, even if he has not caused any accident, he is brought to book, and so it should be for all regulations. Hardly anyone has ever been booked for guiding without a licence and the few attempts that were made were prosecuted in a rather clumsy way, leading to nothing.

Things seem to have changed and hopefully the enforcement officers will keep up their good beginning and truly enforce the law without considerations for creed or person; the law is equal to all!

The hot air being blown from as far afield as the USA about extended families and local school groups does not hold water; no enforcement officer will bother you and no serious guide will be bothered about that.

The reference to "mismatches" between the guide and the expectations of the guided party are partly caused by the fact that the general list of guides, from which the tour operators contact the guides for an engagement, only lists the languages for which the guide was licensed, even if he/she is able to guide also in other languages, and shows nothing about interests or further specialisation of the guide.

Every year the guiding confraternity is growing with new, young and not so young members, so if someone thinks he is competent to guide let them pass the test and get the licence. There is no fixed number, as with taxis, minibuses and pharmacies. Let there be no place for phonies, whether specialised or not!