Tour guides from Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda gathered in Kigali on Saturday to celebrate the International Tourist Guide Day. They exchanged ideas on how to further advance their profession, as well as raise awareness on environment conservation.

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) in collaboration with Rwanda Safaris Guides Association (RWASAGA) hosted the event which coincided with the latter’s 10th anniversary.

Preston Mutinda, the head of the Kenyan delegation of tour guides, told the gathering at Telecom House in Kigali that it was indeed encouraging and gratifying to see the East African guide fraternity celebrating the day together.

Mutinda said: "I see and feel the spirit of the East African Community. We are gathered here today because of the foundation that the governments of our partner states have laid for the free movement of their citizens.”

Mutinda who acknowledged that prospects abound for the development of tourism in the bloc explained that arrangements such as the EAC Common Market Protocol "open up space” for tourist guides in the region to forge partnerships and thus promote the region as one tourist destination.

This, he noted, is a recipe for diversification of tourism products which in turn catalyses development of tourism in general and the economic development of the bigger Community "given the forward and backward linkages” of tourism.

Room for improvement

Mutinda and others agree that despite the opportunities, there is room for improvement if they are to gain more.

It is imperative, he said, that guides are professionally competent, ethical and responsible ambassadors of their destinations because "a visitor leaves with the picture that a guide paints of a destination.”

"You know as well as I do that guiding standards in our region need improvement. We must, therefore, through our associations play a critical advocacy role to ensure that our governments put in place measures to support associations to make guiding standards better.”

There are more than 5,000 registered tourist guides and drivers in the region, according to Herbert Byaruhanga, Chairperson Uganda Safari Guides Association (USAGA).

These people, he emphasised, are the first tourism ambassadors of every company and country because they stay with tourists most of the time and offer "very important” services in the tourism value chain.

Byaruhanga explained that many institutions with tour guiding courses have sprung up in the region but in these schools, there is more of teaching than training.

"Guiding skills are mostly hands-on and therefore there is more need for more practical training than theory. This has grossly affected services offered by tourist guides. I therefore call for the harmonisation of the curriculum.”

The other challenges that need urgent attention, he noted, are a negative attitude or marginalisation towards tour guides; the fact that most guides in the region are not protected by law as they work without contracts; lack of enough equipment for guides; insufficient publications about EAC products; among others.

Patrick Kwizera, managing director of Fine Safaris-Africa, a local tour operator, also told The New Times that the lack of ample training to make tour guides professional "since we are working with foreigners” is critical.

"Some companies employ unskilled guides and that leads to lack of compliance to become members of the association,” Kwizera said.

Meanwhile, Byaruhanga stressed that they are going to advocate for all it takes to make their members professional and knowledgeable.

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