Tour Guide Organizations

Tour Guide Organizations: Today they are over one billion tourists and growth are set to continue with emerging new markets. The nature of tourism is unique among industries with selling a product that is not owned by anyone and is shared among many.

A fragile product that needs protection but tourism today operates in a process is driven market where margins are increasingly squeezed. If care is not taken the quality is dripping down, destination degraded and the opportunities to offer an enriched holiday experience to customers is missed.

In such regards, a different &more sustainable approach can offer greater rewards for business by benefitting the environment, communities living in destinations and the tourists simultaneously. When businesses start to actively care for the destinations & people they experience creating a real competitive advantage over others.

Apart from the problem of sustainable development, the world organizations in the tourism sector are confronting another critical issue of Tourism safety. It is one of the contemporary issues the world organizations are facing.

Indeed, in recent times more and more holidaymakers became victims of armed conflicts and terrorist attacks. In such horrifying situation, the tourists nowadays are considering their safety at the top of their priorities.

Therefore, in such context, it has become inevitably imperative in respects to tourism sector to have such organizations which would act as mentors by keeping a check on various tourists activities throughout the global by monitoring and regulating them simultaneously.

The proper functioning of such organizations is directly linked towards the affluence of tour guides and other people in this service industry.

United Federation of travel agents’ associations (UFTAA)

In order for effective coordination and spread of professionalism amongst travel agents across the globe, the United Federation of travel agents’ associations (UFTAA) was

established in Rome in November 1966. It was formed after the merger of two large organisations namely Universal organisation of travel agents’ association (UOTAA) and Federazione Italiano Agent di Viaggio (FIAV) of Italy. Located in Monaco (France) the UFTAA aims at the promotion and development of tourism related activities worldwide. Figure 5: UFTAA (Source:uftaa.org)

Its membership includes the association of travel agents and tour operators working professionally across the globe. At present, UFTAA constitutes nearly 80 national organisations and more than 33000 travel agents’ worldwide as its members. Tour Guide Organizations

It thoroughly corporates and works with other organisations and federation for the betterment of tourism and other related services or activities. It works with organisations like IATA, IH & RA (International Hotel and Restaurant Association) etc. UFTTA mainly aims at following aspects:

To inspire cooperation between national associations of travel agencies.

To homogenize activities and procedures in the industry.
To help its associates in provide in value added services and to negotiate with other bodies for the overall effectiveness.
To organise meetings and sessions for such disseminations.

To work as a machinery for adjudication and for relaxing bilateral disagreements related to commercial relations which could not be settled cordially between parties.

Federation of tourist guide (FEG)

Federation of tourist guide (FEG) is an association of qualified tourist guides in the Europe and is considered as a believer of high values and excellence in holiday business. It is an energetic associate of numerous European organisations and assemblies and a contributor or spectator in key European mediums.

The present members of Federation of tourist guide associations are Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

However, it’s other associate members are Albania, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Luxemburg, Poland, Slovenia and Ukraine. FEG knows where to go and whom to speak to about Tourist Guiding issues. It is the Expert Traveller Guides organisation in Europe. It is appreciated and it is consulted.

It was founded in the year 1986. It was founded to publicise and improve the service quality offered to all the visitors who are travelling to Europe, to reinforce and bring together specialised tourist guiding associations across Europe, to represent the profession of a tour guide at European level. Following are its prime proposes:

To offer know-how where wanted to guarantee that the Tourist Guide’s part is understood and encouraged.

To talk about the Tourist Guides on issues such as equivalence of professional qualifications, standards in tourist guiding and tourist guide training.
To attain a mutual approach on professional issues by understanding the requirements and demands of industry & consumers and what they are expecting about an expert tourist guide in Europe.
To provide a prospect for the association and individual interactions through its conferences, meetings and submits. Tour Guide Organizations

Tourist guide federation of India (TGFI)

Tourist guide federation of India (TGFI) was formed After immense parleying in 1996 Regional Level Guide Associations on a common platform and deliberated to constitute a National body which would undertake the required actions for the mutual interest of tour guides in the various province of Country.

The basic objective before constituting such federation at the national level is to have an established organisation specifically deals and represents the interest of Indian Government in the tourism and related sector. Today tourist guides federation of India (TGFI) includes more than 15000 working professionals as its full-time members, representing it across the sun-continent and the globe.

Following are the prime objectives and aims of Tourist guide federation of India (TGFI):

To endorse countrywide incorporation, well-being, and benevolence
To adopt all the actions which are required for sponsoring, inspiring and supporting the expansion of tourism throughout the country and to take initiatives to protect the well-being of the Tourism Trade in all respects.
To Interconnect with Chambers of Commerce, other Merchants and Civic Figures in India, Government Divisions or Committees, International Air Transport Association and various overseas and local associations and businesses, corporations and concerns and promote measures in the interests of the travel trade and nominate members to act on them.

To inspire and encourage sociable feelings among the tour operators and travel agents on all topics connecting their mutual upright and profit.
To try to cordially settle down all the disagreements of other associations and federations.
To protect the interest of the members of Tourist guide federation of India (TGFI) from the malpractices of foreign tour operators.

To set up and maintain high ethical standards in the industry.
To undertake such welfare activities which the members can not undertake individually.
To get affiliation with the asimilar organisation in other countries.

Tourist Guides’ Federation of South India (TGFSI)

It signifies all the Government of India certified Guides and their affiliation Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Few of the like-minded elder guides who were certified as official guides felt that there is a necessity for an association parallel to the Federation to characterise the guide community and convey the requirements and expansions to the correct echelons at the exact period.

Henceforth, the language guides’ forum was formed as to constituent “Tourist Guides’ Federation of South India”. About 40 senior Guides from all over south India met at

Madurai in June 2007 and founded Tourist Guides’ Federation of South India (TGFSI).

Apart from English speaking tour guides, Several of TGFSI Guides are capable and expert in multiple languages like French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Italian and etc. Till now, many people from multiple fields of professions like from the domain of teaching,

Lawyers & professors etc. have signed up as Guides in Tourist Guides’ Federation of South India. Presently, there are around two hundred Guides employed with the visitors coming from various countries. TGFSI is also affiliated to the World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations (WFTGA).The prime purposes of the Federation are:

To unite all the guides of the southern province.

To discourse objections and to pursue redressal
To have more negotiating authority to signify guides in the true outlook.
To associate all guides with the world federation of tourist guide association (WFTGA) and to work with the federation & other associated Federations.

To format information database of all the guides working in the southern part of the country over a compatible website.
To work in collaboration with India Tourism, IATO and other interrelated forms.
To get appropriate gratitude for the guides.

To embody guides in all the imperativeconferences&summitswhere decisions concerning to Guides have been discussed.
To share information and data.
To conduct talks, review courses and enlightening execution tours.

To encourage original destinations of south India
To get appropriate escort fees for all guides and condemns mistreatment of guides.
To publish a once-a-month newsletter which would cover all the recent happing’s of tourism industry and major events directly or indirectly affecting the lives of tour guides.