With an aim to promote tourism and ensure that the tourists coming to the state get the right information and help, the state tourism department became the first in the country to organise a specialised guide training course.

The first batch, selected from over a dozen major tourist destinations of the state, began their training on Wednesday.

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.

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