JOIN USBangalore University (BU) has partnered with the Tourism Department to train guides in Bengaluru and other places.
The university’s Department of Commerce (Tourism Studies) will train students and working professionals on becoming good tour guides. The trained students will be certified and licensed by the Tourism Department. They will also be placed.
The university is the facilitator of the course which will be organised and monitored by the Karnataka State Tourism Department (KSTDC), Mahesh Kumar V, a faculty member at BU’s Department of Commerce (Tourism Studies), told Deccan Herald.
This year, the Tourism Department started professional guide training programmes in Mysore, Mangalore, Rani Channamma (Belagavi) and Visvesvaraya Technological universities besides the VTU National Academy for Skill Development, Dandeli.
Students will undergo three-month theory classes and one-month field training. They will be taught subjects like history and geography, foreign languages, trained in soft skills and familiarised with the history of different tourist places.
The department will also give badges, certificates and licences to all trained guides, besides publishing their details on its website so that people can directly contact them as private guides, too. This apart, BU and the Tourism Department are tying up with hotels, tour operators, travel agencies and tourism companies to attract students.
Kumar said many companies in Bengaluru had shown interest in recruiting the first batch of trained guides. Students will be placed at places of their choice, he added.
The guide training programme will be different from BU’s Masters in Tourism Administration (MTA) course. The guide training programme will be a certificate course designed mainly for working professionals. Classes will begin on December 2, 2015, and will be conducted in the morning and evening on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Students should be aged 21-45, according to Kumar.
Pradeep Singh Kharola, Additional Chief Secretary, Tourism Department, said the aim of the training programme was to upgrade the skills of tour guides, especially their language and knowledge. While Bengaluru will be the gateway for tourists and guides, the maximum demand for guides is in Mysuru and Hampi.