Armenia faces shortage of guides to develop tourism, say specialists

Speaking to Tert.am, Apres Zohrabyan stressed the need of appropriate oversight mechanisms in the sector. “We need, probably, to reach a solution by raising the level of responsibility across the republic,” he said.
 

As for licensing procedures, Zohrabyan said he is aware of the one-time practice which was later abolished, being found too formal. He said he believes that the problem should be sought in the employer-employees relations, ,eantime also highlighting the importance of state responsibility.

“Perhaps, we do not need any licensing or formal procedures at all. Every possible mechanism was invested not to hamper the tourism development. So an employer is free to decide its tourism development [strategies] at its own discretion, by finding a high quality guide to enhance the company’s reputation and image. But, nevertheless, a state oversight is necessary.”

Zohrabyan noted that no educational institutions in Armenia offer special curricula to train professional guides.

“There is no university training guides. They train language or history specialists [who may later work as guides]. Some of the guides now know language[s] well without knowing history and just vice versa,” he added.

Commenting on the problem, President of the Armenian Institute for Tourism Robert Minasyan said the issue is a matter of importance for any country. 

“Poor-quality services stemming from errors in work and failure to provide accurate information may reduce a tour company’s [reputation] to zero after many years of work. The training level of our guides today does not fit into any logics. There is absolutely no system to outline a curriculum for training [guides] or specify the entities responsible for the training,” he added.

Minasyan said he doesn’t think that the problems in the sector are restricted only to the shortage of guides.

“Companies often work without proper certification, drivers and vehicles licensed to carry out the transportation of tourists. We do not have to invent new things; all we need to do us just to apply the best international practices. Unless we do that, we will not become a country of tourism. If we really wish Armenia to match those criteria to benefit from the ‘golden rain’, we must have high-quality professionals in all areas,” he added.

Minasyan said he regrets that there is no special institution responsible for the certification of guides. “I feel very bad every time I hear [information about our country] misrepresented. And that’s not just about history. What [guides] need is just to talk about Armenia and the Armenian identity, the fact that the nation is alive today despite [the Genocide] that was intended to bring about its uprooting,” he said, highlighting the need of revising the state attitude to the issue.

He said he doesn’t know any example of a guide who went into practice shortly after obtaining professional qualification. “A guide should have a university education and know several languages, as well as be sophisticated and trained professionally as in many countries. In Israel, for instance, an individual [aspiring to be a guide] is required to have a university degree; a commission then tests his or her oral and written language skills before entitling the individual in question to sit an exam at the Ministry of Tourism to obtain a certificate which is, by the way, temporary,” he added.