THE DEPARTMENT of Tourism (DOT), with the help of the prestigious UK-based Blue Badge Tourist Guide instructors, is poised to standardize the qualifications of local tour guides with an intense, four-week training.

Blue Badge is the only national tourist guide qualification in UK offering expert, comprehensive guiding services. Selected, trained and examined by the Institute of Tourist Guiding, Blue Badge is the internationally recognized benchmark for excellence.

Mabuhay Guides aims to produce ?Blue Badge-quality? tour guides someday to guide DOT visitors in the country. Tour guides represent the country, and must be intelligent, engaging, well-trained and well-educated professionals.

The training include courses in Liberal Arts such as History, Dance, Local Cuisine, Geography, Antiques, Culture, Arts, Architecture, Literature, Heritage Sites, Music; and Personality development, First-aid, Protocolar Training, Tour-guide Training and Field exposure/practicum.

Earning the distinction as select Mabuhay Guides at the end of the training program, the would-be certified tour guides are expected to earn up to P4,000/day (P5,000/day if knowledgeable in another foreign language other than English).

Impressed

The generous pay lured in about 200 applicants to the Mabuhay Guides program; 50 were eventually accepted. Today, midway through the training program, only 23 participants
remain.

?I am very impressed by the trainees. So far this has been the most receptive, extremely bright students I?ve ever handled,? said Nicky Godfrey-Evans, Cumbria and London Blue Bridge Tourist Guide who has directed across the globe several Blue Badge Guide courses.

The eminent instructors include Virgilio Almario for Literature, Ning Encarnacion-Tan for Architecture, Eric Torres for Art, Ramon Santos for Music, Larry Gabao for Dance, Toti Villalon for Heritage Sites, Margarita Fores for Filipino Cuisine, Jaime Laya for Antiques, Dorcie Nantes for Geography, Felipe de Leon Jr. for Culture, Flor Hornedo for History and Lory Tan for Tourism and Ecology.

Lia Bernardo handled Personality Development, while the Department of Foreign Affairs conducted the Protocolar Training.

Godfrey-Evans, with another Blue Badge guide, Roger Rajah from Malaysia, taught the participants techniques, tour planning, problem-solving, communication and presentation skills on foot, on site and on a moving vehicle.

To excel in tour guiding, one needs consistent practice, said Godfrey-Evans. Skills and techniques take time to be acquired. In a bus tour, for instance, timing should be spot-on as one builds up the city while the bus traverses through traffic. Tour guides must not, she said, point at a monument the bus has already passed by.

Attention

Tour guides must not draw attention to themselves. Fidgeting and fiddling while talking is an absolute no-no too, said Rajah. Unnecessary body gestures only distract tourists from appreciating a scene or a painting. Tour guides must also not turn away to look at the object they?re pointing to, because the gesture draws their voices away from the hearing range of the tour group.

?There are so many things going on inside a tour guide?s head?minding one?s gestures, feeling the location, searching for the top visual priority, making sure everyone is safe and not tripping over a rock or an object, making sure everyone is around?while at the same time giving accurate information about the place. It?s not an easy job. Over time one can master these skills,? Godfrey-Evans said.

An experienced master tour guide like Godfrey-Evans, backed by 32 years of experience, took only two days to master the details of San Agustin Church, Manila, including the church layout and important visual locations. The trick, she said, is to have a genuine, enduring interest in culture and national history.

Not only are guides expected to command a mastery of detail, they must also possess a sense of humor to be able to entertain visitors. Patience is another skill one has to learn, since tour guides encounter people from different cultures at all times.

Participants who complete the training program will receive their Mabuhay Guide badges and sign a one-year contract with DOT, including a code of ethics that prohibits them from accepting commissions. Graduates, to be known as Mabuhay Guides, will automatically be accredited by the DOT and recognized by the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations.