In a first,UP offers training course for tourist guides

Apart from getting historical details of their destinations,the guides will also be trained in the basics of foreign languages like Deutsche,French and Italian.

They will be given licenses certified by the Tourism department and the Archeological Survey of India (ASI).

The course is being initiated along with the Institute of Tourism Studies (ITS)-Lucknow University,Institute of Hotel Management-Gwalior and the Manyavar Kashiram Tourism Management Institute,apart from the ASI,Indian Association of Tours Operators and Uttar Pradesh Hotels and Restaurants Association (UPHRA).

Among the 917 youths selected for the course,200 have been invited for the first batch. This includes 60 women.

The training is being imparted on the ITS campus in Lucknow University.

“This is for the first time that any state is organising an extensive course for training guides. This is a certificate course,after which the guides will be given a license certifying them for the job,” said Avanish Awasthi,Secretary (Tourism).

The course,spanning nine-weeks,has a curriculum designed by tourism experts from different institutes.

“Often we hear of the tourists either being given wrong information about a destination or being cheated by a guide. The guides are an important facet of the tourism industry and also the face of the tourism department. Hence,we decided to ensure that there are trained guides who have been certified by us,” said Awasthi.

He added that since the UPHRA is also associated with the course,the guides will be associated with the hotels as well. “This will ensure that all the tourists coming into the city don’t fall into the trap of touts and are taken around by certified guides only,” Awasthi said.

Satyendra Mishra,one of the trainee guides,said the course would surely give him weightage over all the other guides. “So far,I was narrating whatever information I got by word of mouth from locals and shopkeepers. But with this course,I am getting accurate information which I will share with the tourists. Also,since I will have a license,I will certainly be preferred by the tourists over the others.”

The trainees have been chosen from cities like Agra,Mathura,Varanasi,Allahabad and Kushinagar among others.