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Press release
First edition of the Tour Guides Day under the theme “the role of the tour guide and his contribution to the tourism sector
The structuring and upgrading of the profession and tourist activities are one of the strategic levers intended to ensure the quality of various services required by the clientele, to withstand the challenges of the competition and to position our tourist destinations.
Seen from this perspective, the tour guide plays a key role in the development and promotion of the natural and cultural heritage of Morocco ; and he often exerts an influence on the tourist's image of the destination. The challenges of the profession are now more based on the qualitative aspect than the quantitative one, in view of the growing expectations of the tourist.
In this context, the Tourism Department has conducted a strategic study on the profession of the tour guide in order to define the preliminary aspects as well as the axes of the reform to be undertaken at the level of this profession. This indicates that these challenges relating to the upgrading and quality will mainly pass through the construction of a target fabric for the profession and the establishment of a new legislative framework.
So, and regarding the regulatory framework, the bill, which is introduced in the approval circuit and examined by the Council of Government on the 26 th of February 2009, targets three objectives:
• To professionalize the activities specific to the tour guide by strengthening the access conditions and putting in place a training which complies with the international standards of quality;
• To bring up to date the activities directed at guiding tourists, through the creation of tour guides' companies;
• To simplify the exercise of this activity within the framework of a new segmentation.
The major innovative axes of this bill are summarized as follows:
· The access to the profession:
Taking into account the qualitative challenges of the profession, the access to the job of a tour guide will be dependent on certain training and certification conditions (set by regulatory means), taking into consideration the international standards when it comes to guiding tourists as well as the growing expectations of the clientele.
· The categorization :
With a view to broadening the scope of the exercise of the occupation relating to tour guides in Morocco and developing their knowledge of the natural and cultural heritage of the Kingdom, a new segmentation has been carried out according to the type of accommodation and the nature of services offered to tourists. This segmentation is limited to two categories:
· Tour guides designated for towns and tourist circuits:
Tour couriers as well as tour guides who are now on duty become tour guides for towns and tourist circuits and their action zone is expanded to cover the whole national territory.
· Tour guides designated for natural spaces:
The mountain guides who are now on duty become guides for natural spaces and their action areas are no longer limited to the mountainous space, taking into account the emergence of new tourist products which come along on top of certain destinations in rural or desert areas.
· The tour guides company:
The reform project plans a new “exercise” statute by means of the tour guides' company (in the form of a company of persons) helping accredited tour guides to pool their skills, and providing them with a better positioning in tourism value chain.
One of the key axes of the reform lies also in the restructuring and strengthening of the profession's representation. The Tourism Department has then initiated a process of accompaniment and a constant follow-up of the representation; and it makes it sure that more prerogatives may be given to it progressively.
In this context, and in order to federate further the tour guides around the reform project of the profession, to explain the challenges of such a reform, mainly in terms of the upgrading of training and access, and with respect to the professionalization of the activity of tour guides and the consolidation of the representation, the Ministry of Tourism and Handicraft organised, in collaboration with the National Federation of Tour Guides, the first edition of the Tour Guides Day on March 24,2009 at Jnan Palace Hotel in Fez under the theme “the role of the tour guide and his contribution to the tourism sector”.
The morning has been centered on the presentation of the big axes on the reform of the profession, on the development perspectives of “guiding” in Morocco and worldwide, with the testimony of international experts representing the European Federation of tours guides and the “Association Agir” for a Responsible Tourism; it has also been based on the added value and the role played by the tour guide as regards the destination.
The afternoon has been the opportunity, on the one hand, to reiterate the role played by the Tourism Department and the National Federation of tour guides in supporting and strengthening the profession, more particularly by putting in place a continuing training as a key tool intended to maintain the level of quality required for the exercise of such an activity. On the other hand, a social security project for the profession has been presented to the insurance company, Wafa insurance.
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