Operators threaten withdrawal from EU tour guide project

Two Leading European tour operator associations have written to the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) threatening to withdraw from the EU tour guide standards project unless the scope is narrowed down to include only locally qualified guides.

"What is behind this is a fierce battle over illegal, state-sponsored, restrictive practices in the tourism industry," a source close to ETOA (European Tour Operators Association), has told The Sunday Times.

The letter, signed by Michel de Blust, the secretary general of ECTAA (Group of National Travel Agents and Tour Operators Association within the EU), and Tom Jenkins, the executive director of ETOA, stated that they would withdraw officially as observers from the CEN TC 329/WG 5 on Tourist Guiding Services, unless the scope of the standards project is revised and that industry representation in the working group is more balanced.

Both associations said that they had expressed their "serious concerns with this standards project, as it is setting a standard for an activity that is ill-defined" from the outset. They added that the definition with which the CEN working group is establishing standards lies at the core of the problem.

A tourist guide, the associations said, is defined as a "person who guides visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area, for which a person normally possesses an area-specific qualification, usually issued and/or recognised by the appropriate authority."

This definition was agreed by a working group which both ECTAA and ETOA sat on as observers.

In their letter, the associations state: "The central problem was to have a definition which effectively described what a tourist guide does, and which, in some way, represented the interests of locally qualified guides.

"The definition was agreed as a compromise between the industry representatives and the representatives of local guiding associations, the latter made up of a large proportion of the working group."

The associations further added that at the time of the compromise "it was manifest from this definition that there are two types of tourist guides: those 'who guide visitors in the language of their choice and interprets the cultural and natural heritage of an area' and those who do so while possessing 'an area-specific qualification".

They continued to say that training may not be a prerequisite for exercising the profession in all countries, and may not be compulsory, yet this "delicate compromise is now being used to create a standard for all tourist guiding".

They also added that the term 'tourist guide' can also embrace a wide range of activity where those who travel are presented with information. Teachers, group leaders, university professors, ministers and even coach drivers all act as tourist guides when and where necessary.

"This task of cultural intermediation is so broad that it is difficult to see how any meaningful standard can be drawn up to fit it."

The standard currently being elaborated is only practical for those tourist guides who have an area-specific qualification. They are properly called 'locally qualified guides'. "It is not suited for the many tourist guides who neither wish nor need to acquire such qualifications. If this were a technical standard that was explicit in its application to locally qualified guides, then we do not believe that anyone in the industry would object," they said.

Tour operators and travel agencies happily use locally qualified guides all over Europe, and would welcome any attempt to raise or set common standards. But tourist guiding - as it is generally understood - is a notoriously contentious area. "Year after year tourist guides, from elsewhere in Europe have been fined (or threatened with fines) in Italy, Spain and (they) work unhindered," the associations stated.

"Thus any chaining of the term 'tourist guide' to qualification, where no qualification is required by either the tour operator or the client, seriously curtails the industry's freedom to provide services and undermines the principle of the internal market. The standards project thus fails to meet an essential objective of any standard, namely to facilitate the free movement of services across the borders."

With this in mind, the associations consider the standards project should be limited in scope as it is limiting its remit to those guides who require local qualifications. "It must be clearly and explicitly stipulated that the standard is for locally qualified guides only."

Given that the standards project is setting criteria that are suitable only to one type of tourist guides, namely the locally qualified tourist guides, the associations consider it fundamentally flawed from the beginning.

"Since our views and comments are not taken into consideration by the CEN working group, which is chaired and dominated by locally qualified tourist guides, we wish to withdraw from the project. It is a standard drawn up between one set of producers and the normalisation body. We, representing a considerable group of consumers, are being ignored. We cannot endorse a standard that will hinder the free provision of tourist guiding services."

Mirabel Azzopardi Delia has been a Maltese tour guide for eight years and is a member of the Malta Union of Tourist Guides. She thinks that Malta has exceptionally high standards when it comes to guiding. "I've travelled a lot and I can honestly say that there is a very big difference between our tour guides and some guides who practise overseas.

"In some countries, including some European countries, they are not up to scratch, but we are up to EU standards," she said proudly.

In fact, it's not easy to become a tour guide in Malta. Mirabel studied for two years full-time at the Institute of Tourism Studies, can speak four languages and is learning a fifth. She is licensed to guide in both German and English, and also spent time in Germany as a tour guide.

Every year to renew her license she, and over 600 other Maltese tour guides, have to take the Malta Tourism Authority CPD programme. This means paying to attend five lectures throughout the year to make sure that their knowledge is up to date. "If you don't follow this programme then your licence won't be renewed, which ensures that our standards stay high. This is very important because we are, essentially, the ambassadors of our country."