Tourist guide organisation launches

The Institute of Professional Tourist Guides of Southern Africa (IPTGSA) – an organisation for Tourist Guides by Tourist Guides – was launched in Maboneng, Johannesburg, on June 22.

The organisation aims to establish a united voice, which government requires to become involved in a sector. The tourist guiding industry is fragmented at present and does not have a representative body that can speak to government on its behalf, hence the need for the IPTGSA to start unifying the industry.

It is one of only two sectors that are strictly regulated by government and little has been done to assist the tourist guide sector to monitor and improve the quality of service delivered to visitors.

Now that such a body has been established, the aim is to assure the industry of service excellence by serving it in the way that the professional bodies of all other industries in Southern Africa do, by assisting their members to become professional and maintain that status throughout their career. It is a non-profit organisation seeking to further the guiding profession, the interests of individuals engaged in this profession and the public interest.

This means that members, who are voluntary at this stage, will have the opportunity to annually renew their membership based on the amount of credits they have collected through the year. This will ensure that guides will seek to improve themselves continually and continue with their professional development. This, in turn, will improve service excellence and guest satisfaction leading to word-of-mouth marketing.

The three founding members of the Institute have been working tirelessly for several years to put together a constitution and modus operandi that is relevant to the industry.

With a number of guides already on the membership list, the institute is now endeavouring to start a roadshow in the country to introduce the concept to tourist guides and operators everywhere.

Meetings in Johannesburg and Cape Town have already been conducted, resulting in a rise of membership.

In the word of one of the committee members, Pat Riley: “Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.”

This is particularly relevant in this sector of the tourism industry, as visitors want to know as much about the heritage of a destination as experience its cultural and natural uniqueness, a service that only their tour guides will be able to deliver.

The IPTGSA is an NGO structured company with the rules laid down by the South African Qualifications Authority for professional bodies. Since 2011 an ongoing process has best established an Institute to represent, promote and maintain a platform of recognised professional tourist guides in Southern Africa.

Since the launch of the IPTGSA, additional CPD courses have been added and the first roadshow was held in Cape Town on July 5 at Ramasibi Guesthouse, with 20 people in attendance. Various questions were entertained to clarify what the Institute stood for, said Johan Van Biljon, Chairman of the IPTGSA.

One of the main points that came up was that the Institute was there for career path development of the tourist guide and not to sort out problems with transport permits, illegal guiding and getting available work for guides.

Sоurсе: tourismupdate.co.za