I, receiving the certificate
I finally got my tour guide license on the 30th after three years of wait because I had applied for it in the year 2006. I started preparing for the entrance exam after applying for the license in 2006 and continued it for a few months but finally I stopped because the tour guide association of India sued the Indian government for issuing the license. They never want new people to come in the industry as they are afraid of loosing their bread and butter because most the old guides are not good. They got their license when it was so easy to get it. Now the process is tough but it will definitely produce better tour guides who are at least trained to not chew betel while talking with their clients:)
The certificate
My brother Chandan, who is an escort, told me something really funny. He said that when he was in Benares last time with his group, he had hired a government approved tour guide who went with them for morning time boat ride. This tour guide started talking about Benares, Hindu religion, Benares culture and Ganga. He said several times that Ganga is not only a river for Hindus, she is considered as mother. After a few minutes when his speech ended, he started chewing betel and later spited it out in the river Ganga in front of his clients. The clients got really upset and they asked him if Hindus spit on their mother and he just did not have any answer. I hope the people who have attended this training program will not do such thing.
Sana and I at convocation hall
The tour guide training program was stopped several times because the tour guide association of India was always suing the government. They sued the government first time right after the application forms were open and then it took few months to settle things, and then government organized entrance exam and then again tour guide association sued the government and the program was stopped again for a few months as the case was going on in Delhi High Court. Finally the government won the case and High Court of Delhi ordered the government to start the training as soon as possible so finally training was started after 3 years in August 2009.
Happy moments
The training was held at IITTM in Gwalior where I got to learn a lot. The total duration of training was 16 weeks- 6 weeks of classroom teaching and 10 weeks for field work. There were over 75 lectures in 6 weeks and I did wrote my research paper on Benares. I focused on cultural diversity of Benares. There was a written exam and an interview at the end of the program and I passed both and finally got the certificate. Now I have to go to Delhi to India tourism office with a police verification certificate and then they will issue me a provisional license which will be valid only for two months. And after two months my red card (the permanent license) will be issued. I hope they will not create any problem in Delhi.
Dear Nandanji
First of all congratulations for the license and thanks a lot for giving us so useful information about our trade, i have been working in this trade for last nine years without license u can understand how difficult is surviving without license, few month back i got the license of UP State and on 12th of this month i will be giving entrance exam for northern region, wish me good luck and i also wish good luck to all the candidates.
Regards
Bala
Namaste Bala ji,
Thanks for writing and best of luck for your exam! I hope that you will succeed. I also had so many problems when I did not have this license. I am not using this license much for guiding purpose because most of my work is with students and researchers but I feel more confident now with my red card, so definitely it makes a difference. Where are you from? I heard that UP government licenses are still not approved by ASI and is not valid at ASI sites??? Where else do you need the license or where else tourist wants to go??? Seriously crazy! Like for example UP government licenses are not valid at Sarnath and Dashashwamedh ghat in Varanasi which are two major attractions of Varanasi. Anyways, I have heard that this problem will be solved soon.
Best of luck!
dear sir,
my name is ashwini and larning spanish, i want to be tourist guide, how to possile tell me detail.
tell me about couch surfing is it possible to invite couch surfers , how to possible tell me detail.
wating for your suggestion
ASHWINI
Hey guys, i am also an part of this trade, i feel very sorry and frustrated an i cannot change the system, by the grace of god i am an promising tour escort but unfortunately our people are not ready to undertstand what is the difference between an guide and tour escort? infact its mentioned clearly at wftga.org please check this website, as you enter the website click ‘ tour guiding-what is a tour guide once you on this page you will get to know the difference between an escort and an guide.
We need to make an association of tour escort’s
We definitely need an association. I do not have much experience of working as a tour guide or an escort but I have noticed one thing that this whole industry is completely disorganized.
I am doing german language and my aim is to become a tourist guide. so please suggest me about from where i can get the license n how.
Sir I am an M A. I am doing the german language from MMB pune. I am 35 years old guy from jaipur. I want to be a tourist guide. so please suggest me that what should I do to get the license of all india tourist association. When is the tourism department is going to fill the applications fort the certificate.
Mr. Gulab,
Thanks for writing. Just wait for the start of tour guide training course again. Keep checking your news papers or ask other people in the industry about when it is going to be organized again or you can visit India tourism office in your city and they can tell you when tourist guide training course will be organized again. The only way to get the license is that you pass the entrance exam and go through training.
Sir,
I want to do a Spanish Language course. Please tell me from where I can do the Spanish Language Course. Please tell the list of institutes of the following cities( if possible): Delhi, Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Kanpur, Bhopal, Indore or any other good institute. Please reply me soon.
Regards.
Navin
Sir,
I want to do a Spanish Language Course. Please suggest me good institute. Navin
dear sir,
my name is Devendra Pandey and purssuing hotel management final year, i want to be tourist guide, how to possile tell me detail.
wating for your suggestion
DEVENDRA PANDEY
haii nandhan,
I am jinto from south india kerala state. i am working in United State now. I would like to open a travel and tours agency so i need some good tourist guides(m/f)age between 24 to 35 and they must have a license if u know some one with this qualifications pls tell them to contact this email adress jinto_88@yahoo.com.
Dear sir,
My name is Santosh borde I am a B.com graduate. after my graduate I have done my PG in (M.T.A.) Master of Tourism Administration from Maharashtra in 2010. but I have great intrest in tourist guide .
I am learning German language and my aim is to become a tourist guide. so please suggest me what exam do i need to tourist guide.
Mr. Pandey,
Kindly spend a few minutes reading this whole article and going through all the comments and you will get your answer.
Mr. Santosh,
Kindly spend a few minutes reading this whole article and going through all the comments and you will get your answer.
Mr. Jinto,
I will make sure to pass your email address to all my colleagues.
I m anil from jaipur (Indian) . I m doing Travel and tourism course from RCCI and french language So plz any information touist guide me
Mr. Anil,
I have already provided all the information I could about the process of getting tour guide license. Please go through this entire post and other comments and you will find answers of all your questions. If there is something which is neither mentioned in the post nor in any comments then please discuss it and I will be glad to reply them.
Thanks,
Hi Nandan,
first of all many congratulation for getting license.
Hey I am working with a travel company as ticketting executive and now I want to be tour escort as I belonged to Jhansi center for Orchha, Khajuraho and of course Gwalior. Could you please suggest me which language is the most beneficial.
THanks Javed
Mr Javed,
I don’t really that I should suggest you any language because the first thing is that I belong to Northern region and do not know much about Western region and second thing is that you never know the business. Sometimes we have more Italians than Spanish and sometimes French or German but I asked a few other escorts and they told me that learning either Italian or Spanish could be a good option if you want to work in Orcha, Khajuraho or Gwalior. I think you should better get tourist arrival data in Western region from India tourism office, see the average of the past a few years and then go with biggest one.
sir ,
Can you tell me if i have a degree in travel and tourismand a higher diploma plus higher advance diploma in russian language then i am elegible for special trening for a foreigen language guide by the ministre of tourism.
Mr. Raushan,
Ministry of Tourism organizes two kinds of tour guide training program: one for the general people like me who do not speak any foreign language and one for the people like you who speak foreign language like the one you have mentioned Russian. Since you hold a degree and have higher advance diploma in a language, you are just the right candidate for special training program for foreign language speaking candidates. Just keep looking when they organize the training. Best of Luck!