By ADAM IHUCHA -- Thousands of tour
guides in Tanzania are likely to be locked out in the field this year, as the
state plans to enforce the toughest tourism law that requires higher
credentials.
The Tourism Act 2008, to be effected in
the second quarter of 2014, requires, all tour guides to seek accreditation,
for them to acquire a ‘tour-guiding license’.
The law says, one must be a Tanzanian
citizen of 21 year-old and above with at least secondary school education,
professional certificate and experience of not less than five years.
Other prerequisites include adequate
knowledge in tour guiding field, valid first aid certificate and pass
compulsory examination to be conducted annually, in a bid to foster
professionalism.
Chairman of Tanzania Tour Guides
Association (TTGA), Fadhali Munisi is worried that if the law implemented, it
will lock out nearly 4,000 out of estimated 5,000 country’s tour guiding
workforce.
“It might be a harsh reality, but this
law will render 80 percent of 5000 country’s tour guiding workforce, redundant
because they will not meet the set qualifications” Mr Munisi said in exclusive
interview.
Some of tour guides, he says, neither
received secondary education, nor formal tour guide training from a recognized
college.
“Few have attended a formal tour guide
training from recognized institutions. The rest have been trained in
mushrooming colleges which are not recognized” Mr Mushi explained.
It is understood, some are qualified
tour guides, but they have less than five years experience in the profession as
required by the new law.
As a result, TTGA is currently
negotiating with Sokoine University of Agriculture in partnership with
Vocational Educational Training Authority (VETA) to develop a common
tour-guiding curriculum to be used to train in-service tour guides.
If all goes well, the government will
be formulating its compulsory annual tour guides examination from the
curriculum.
African Travel Bureau ‘s tour guide
Shafii Tarimo implores the government to consider providing the fresh tour
guide graduands a chance to practice in order to gain experience.
The government had put it clear that by
next year, no one would be allowed to take tourists in any national park,
without a tour-guiding license.
Director of Tourism Ibrahim Mussa says
the idea is to promote professionalism and improve customer service.
The accreditation will also be used as
an incentive for remuneration or a basis for employment.
“The accreditation will be compulsory,”
Mr Mussa told about 100 members of the Tanzania Association of Tour Operators
(TATO) in Arusha recently.
It is understood the move is also
necessitate to comply with the East African Community’s plans to harmonize the
tourism policies in a bid to have the standard training and certification
particularly for tour guides and hoteliers.
The EAC ministers responsible for
tourism would meet in June 2013 to take stock of establishment of single
tourist visa, harmonization of policies, tourism training standardization and
hotels classification in the five member states.
The idea is to promote professionalism,
improve ethics and customer service for tourists with an eye to help the region
stay competitive.
“As we want tourists to stay more in the region, hoteliers and tour guides will be required to ensure they are committed to exceeding tourist’s expectations with great customer service and the highest degree of adhering to a code of ethics” said EAC Principal Tourism Officer, Mr Shedrack Mashauri.
These are part of the EAC’s package of steps to double the tourists’ arrival by 2020 from the current 5 million to 10 million.
The idea is to rake in $16 billion from the current $7 billion.
Besides human resources development, the EAC plan is to see travel and tourism capital investment to improve infrastructures and marketing the region as a single destination would be augmented to hit $3.95 billion in 2020, up from the current $1.65 billion.
“As we want tourists to stay more in the region, hoteliers and tour guides will be required to ensure they are committed to exceeding tourist’s expectations with great customer service and the highest degree of adhering to a code of ethics” said EAC Principal Tourism Officer, Mr Shedrack Mashauri.
These are part of the EAC’s package of steps to double the tourists’ arrival by 2020 from the current 5 million to 10 million.
The idea is to rake in $16 billion from the current $7 billion.
Besides human resources development, the EAC plan is to see travel and tourism capital investment to improve infrastructures and marketing the region as a single destination would be augmented to hit $3.95 billion in 2020, up from the current $1.65 billion.
Accreditation requirements will include
experience as a tour guide, certificate in tour guiding issued by a registered
training college, valid driving license and first aid certificate.
Tour guides will also be required to
commit to meeting tourists’ expectations in customer service and adhere to code
of ethics.
Samson Maka, who has been a tour guide
for nine years, said the new regulations would improve the tour guide
fraternity.
Last year, Tanzania earned $1.4 billion
from the tourism sector. The industry employs nearly 200,00 Tanzanians directly
and contributes about 17.5 percent of GDP.
Tourists come to Tanzania’s beaches,
the Zanzibar archipelago and national parks.
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