Tourist guide: values and views
Mohammad Shahidul Islam | Saturday, 14 June 2008
TOURISM is a quest for discovering unknown particulars of an exotic location in search of enjoyment. People set out from home for some relief from the hectic life. Tourism soothes jaded life in the present-day mechanical way of life. Tourism is always electrifying and interesting. It enriches mental faculty. But people stop thinking about giving credits to the tourist guide who basically makes the tours and travels comfortable and hazardless. Generally, he is a person who is employed to conduct tourists, as through a museum, archaeological sites, historical monuments, holy places and scenic places like beach, mountain, forest etc, and give information about points of interest whether asked or not by the tourists on their way to look around. It is to remember at this point that tourist guide is not important for tourism, but tourism can be more important through the involvement of the tourist guide.
Tourist guide has many roles to play. He is really a hard worker. He has to know his country completely. He would coordinate the site and the tourists' interest through vivid narration and interpretation. He should know the language of the tourist. He must be sincere and caring to the tourist. He must be given with 3As: (A)ppearance, (A)bility and (A)ttitude
Appearance: He should be sociable, smiling, presentable, energetic, and hygienic
Ability:[i] He must be able to speak in English comfortably
[ii] He has to be able to face FAQ of tourist' interests
[iii] He has to have the capacity to arrange and manage any situation and urgently
Attitude: He will keep a flexible mentality to act out his responsibilities in any schedule or according to tourist' choices
We sometimes confuse the difference between a tourist guide and a tour guide. The term tourist guide is more appropriate than tour guide in that it refers to the person who guides visitors in the language of their choice while interpreting the cultural and natural heritage of an area. Tour guide is basically responsible for arranging transportation. Even so, he should be called a tourist guide. Without tourist guide, one can easily perform tourism, but sometimes it depends on the nature of tourist. The domestic tourist mostly performs tourism without any help from guide. But the foreign tourist prefers to keep a guide handy. Arranging a tour with a professional tourist guide gives travellers a chance to see things, others will not get to see while providing insight on the local customs and traditions. A tourist guide can make a visit more adventurous and amusing. Most tourists join a tour to learn more about an area in terms of history, geography, architecture and everyday life; see as much as possible in a short time; get introduced to an area by someone with detailed information and personal experience; enjoy being taken care of; avoid getting lost and meet new people.
Most of the times, a tourist hesitates or remains unaware of sourcing tourist guide. The easiest way is to go through a travel agency or tour operator, but sometimes travellers prefer to hire a guide directly by sourcing. In most cases, a tourist hears about a guide from other tourists who have enjoyed similar trips earlier. A guide should be trained and certified. The authentic authority like National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation can certify a guide through training. The trained guides are easy to handle any tour schedules or itinerary with the sufficient knowledge of the place. Self-proclaimed guides are easily identified by their lack of confidence, poor historical and local knowledge, poor language and communication skills and unprofessional attitude towards visitors.
Logically, a tourist expects a historical background of any site he visits, what makes it more interesting and lively. Tourists get benefited when in some cases a booklet or leaflet of the site is sold or delivered to them. Guiding is not lecturing when the historical background is narrated in the form of a story. Rather it brings life to the monuments and raises the appreciation of its historical value. Guide would not only lead the tourists to the site but to narrate the pros and cons of it.
Tourist guides can be classified according to their expertise. The skill of guiding depends on the solid compilation of the history of a particular country. Guides can be both general and specialized. A guide who is good in museum narration is called Docent. On the other hand there are some specialized guides for history, heritage, Buddhism, interior d
Tourist guide has many roles to play. He is really a hard worker. He has to know his country completely. He would coordinate the site and the tourists' interest through vivid narration and interpretation. He should know the language of the tourist. He must be sincere and caring to the tourist. He must be given with 3As: (A)ppearance, (A)bility and (A)ttitude
Appearance: He should be sociable, smiling, presentable, energetic, and hygienic
Ability:[i] He must be able to speak in English comfortably
[ii] He has to be able to face FAQ of tourist' interests
[iii] He has to have the capacity to arrange and manage any situation and urgently
Attitude: He will keep a flexible mentality to act out his responsibilities in any schedule or according to tourist' choices
We sometimes confuse the difference between a tourist guide and a tour guide. The term tourist guide is more appropriate than tour guide in that it refers to the person who guides visitors in the language of their choice while interpreting the cultural and natural heritage of an area. Tour guide is basically responsible for arranging transportation. Even so, he should be called a tourist guide. Without tourist guide, one can easily perform tourism, but sometimes it depends on the nature of tourist. The domestic tourist mostly performs tourism without any help from guide. But the foreign tourist prefers to keep a guide handy. Arranging a tour with a professional tourist guide gives travellers a chance to see things, others will not get to see while providing insight on the local customs and traditions. A tourist guide can make a visit more adventurous and amusing. Most tourists join a tour to learn more about an area in terms of history, geography, architecture and everyday life; see as much as possible in a short time; get introduced to an area by someone with detailed information and personal experience; enjoy being taken care of; avoid getting lost and meet new people.
Most of the times, a tourist hesitates or remains unaware of sourcing tourist guide. The easiest way is to go through a travel agency or tour operator, but sometimes travellers prefer to hire a guide directly by sourcing. In most cases, a tourist hears about a guide from other tourists who have enjoyed similar trips earlier. A guide should be trained and certified. The authentic authority like National Hotel and Tourism Training Institute of Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation can certify a guide through training. The trained guides are easy to handle any tour schedules or itinerary with the sufficient knowledge of the place. Self-proclaimed guides are easily identified by their lack of confidence, poor historical and local knowledge, poor language and communication skills and unprofessional attitude towards visitors.
Logically, a tourist expects a historical background of any site he visits, what makes it more interesting and lively. Tourists get benefited when in some cases a booklet or leaflet of the site is sold or delivered to them. Guiding is not lecturing when the historical background is narrated in the form of a story. Rather it brings life to the monuments and raises the appreciation of its historical value. Guide would not only lead the tourists to the site but to narrate the pros and cons of it.
Tourist guides can be classified according to their expertise. The skill of guiding depends on the solid compilation of the history of a particular country. Guides can be both general and specialized. A guide who is good in museum narration is called Docent. On the other hand there are some specialized guides for history, heritage, Buddhism, interior d