Maharashitra: 50 new tour guides ready to showcase beauty and heritage of state

MUMBAI: On Friday, Maharashtra Tourism department commissioned 50 candidates, who successfully cleared the online IITF Tourism Facilitator Certification Programme, as official tour guides for destinations in the state.
Principal Secretary, Tourism, Valsa Nair Singh, Director of the Directorate of Tourism (DoT) Milind Borikar and Joint Director of DoT Dr. Dhananjay Sawalkar, were present during the event held at Sahyadri guest house, Malabar hills.
A day-long training programme was also held in which the candidates were trained on responsible, sustainable, heritage and adventure tourism. After the training, an examination was conducted to test their knowledge on tourism in Maharashtra, as from now onwards they will perform the duties of tour guides at state level, said a tourism directorate release.
Director, DoT, Milind Borikar said, “So far, offline tour guide training programmes have been implemented at 15 different locations in the state in which a total number of 450 guides have been trained and are ready to hit the ground. However, this is the first time that the successful candidates of IITF Tourism Facilitator Certification Programme have been provided one-day training by the Maharashtra Tourism Department.”
These 50 candidates are officially announced as tour guides and will be providing services at various tourist destinations (excluding ASI sites) in Maharashtra, as Maharashtra tourism certified guides.
Principal Secretary, Tourism, Valsa Nair Singh said, “These candidates are already city level tour guides and are being promoted to the state level. This new batch of qualified and certified tour guides will showcase the beauty of the state by adding their style and new techniques to spread information and attract more domestic and foreign tourists.”
“This venture, piloted by the Directorate of Tourism (DoT) addresses the shortage of certified guides. The new guides with the requisite training and background will boost Maharashtra Tourism apart from opening up new employment opportunities,” she added.