Trabzon Regional Tourist Guides Room

Information

A professional tour guide must first and foremost have an excellent command of their native language and the language or languages in which they guide. In addition to the knowledge required for the profession in subjects such as history, archaeology, art history, geography, and economics, they should also have a general knowledge of music, art, and politics. This knowledge must be constantly updated.

Communication

A professional tour guide influences tourists not only with their knowledge but also with their presentation, body language, appearance, and personality. They should not discriminate, and should be reliable, calm, and polite. When presenting and providing information, they should be able to make eye contact with tourists, manage the group without being authoritarian, use time efficiently, and be solution-oriented when problems arise. They must be able to communicate effectively with other guides, the vehicle driver, and museum, hotel, and shop employees.

Responsibility

The professional tourist guide's responsibility is not only to the tourist or the agency. The guide is also responsible for the protection of cultural assets and the environment. Planning, coordination, supervision, and reporting related to tours are also his/her responsibility. He/she must be able to deal with any unusual situations that may arise (reservation problems, illness, death, theft, accidents, etc.).

Physical Fitness

A professional tour guide must be able to endure long walks, long journeys by vehicle, sleep deprivation, difficult conditions, high altitudes, and different climatic conditions.

Duties of a Professional Tour Guide

o Fostering group spirit through strong leadership.

o Creating a learning environment.

o Successfully managing the tour and resolving issues.

o Fostering a spirit of discovery, fun, and friendship.

o Complying with the rules of the travel company that brought the group.

The first guides recorded in written sources are believed to have been Egyptian priests. However, the Olympic Games, which began in the 7th century BC, marked the start of organized travel and brought tourist guiding with it.

Herodotus, a historian and geographer who was born and raised in Anatolia, was one of the first guides to describe the places he visited and their traditions, and in a sense, he can be considered a pioneer of cultural tourism. Later, parallel to the increase in trade and travel, the number of visitors to the Anatolian coast also increased. However, during this period, guides passed on information they had heard by word of mouth. In the Middle Ages, mass travel began with the Crusades, and even in its primitive form, transportation, accommodation, security, and tour guide organization were seen in these travels. In the following periods, travel required great expense and became a privilege and a source of status that only the wealthy could enjoy.

Tourism and tourist guiding only acquired a quality similar to that of today in the years following the Industrial Revolution. Thomas Cook's one-day train trip in England in 1851 is considered the beginning of modern tourism.

In the early 20th century, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle in England opened to guided tours, and some travel agencies began to employ guides.

History of the Tourist Guiding Profession in Turkey

The history of guiding in our country dates back to the late 19th century. For over fifty years, guide organizations have been working to improve the quality of services provided by tourist guides, offering in-service training and promoting specialization, while actively participating in efforts to develop tourism in the country.

With the proclamation of the Tanzimat in 1839, relations with Europe in the fields of education, fine arts, and trade developed, and the number of foreigners living in Istanbul increased. Parallel to developments in the field of travel in Europe, the start of Orient-Express train services between Paris and Istanbul on June 5, 1883, and the Ottomans' support for Western powers in the Crimean War led to Westerners' sympathy for the country and an increase in visits for trade and travel purposes.

With this development, tourist guiding, which began to appear in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the 19th century, was of great importance in terms of promoting the country and national security. The first example of efforts to institutionalize the profession was Regulation No. 190 dated October 29, 1890. The task of implementing this regulation, which bound tour guiding to certain rules, was assigned to municipalities by the Ministry of the Interior. The regulation stipulated that tour guides must act in good faith and that their proficiency in Turkish and foreign languages must be determined by examination.

Two years after the founding of the Republic of Turkey, strict rules regarding tour guiding were introduced with the Decree on Those Who Will Serve as Interpreters and Guides for Foreign Travelers, dated November 8, 1925, and numbered 2730. The most important issue addressed by the decree was the training of interpreter-guides, but since there was no organization related to tourist activities, the requirement for an examination to determine the competence of guides remained on paper. In December 1928, when tourism in Turkey had come to a standstill due to the economic crisis in the late 1920s, the Istanbul Economic Directorate announced through the press that it would open a tour guiding course. With this announcement, 50 candidates who were accepted to the course through an exam earned the right to become interpreter-guides. Following the establishment of tourism departments in municipalities in 1935, another tour guide course was opened, and 53 people graduated from this course. However, tourism came to a halt in the 1940s due to the effects of World War II, and most tour guides left the profession. Modern tourism gained importance in the 1950s, and in 1950, the General Directorate of Press, Publication, and Tourism presented a report titled “Tourist Interpreter-Guide” to the Second Tourism Advisory Board, emphasizing its importance for the sector. Subsequently, in 1951, the Turkish National Student Federation (TMTF) undertook a study to bring guiding up to date with the conditions of the day. A total of 129 young people who completed the guide training course opened for university students entered the profession.Two years after the founding of the Republic of Turkey, strict rules regarding tour guiding were introduced with the Decree on Those Who Will Serve as Interpreters and Guides for Foreign Travelers, dated November 8, 1925, and numbered 2730. The most important issue addressed by the decree was the training of interpreter-guides, but since there was no organization related to tourist activities, the requirement for an examination to determine the competence of guides remained on paper. In December 1928, when tourism in Turkey had come to a standstill due to the economic crisis in the late 1920s, the Istanbul Economic Directorate announced through the press that it would open a tour guiding course. With this announcement, 50 candidates who were accepted to the course through an exam earned the right to become interpreter-guides. Following the establishment of tourism departments in municipalities in 1935, another tour guide course was opened, and 53 people graduated from this course. However, tourism came to a halt in the 1940s due to the effects of World War II, and most tour guides left the profession. Modern tourism gained importance in the 1950s, and in 1950, the General Directorate of Press, Publication, and Tourism presented a report titled “Tourist Interpreter-Guide” to the Second Tourism Advisory Board, emphasizing its importance for the sector. Subsequently, in 1951, the Turkish National Student Federation (TMTF) undertook a study to bring guiding up to date with the conditions of the day. A total of 129 young people who completed the guide training course opened for university students entered the profession.

The first regulation concerning tourist guiding was published on September 3, 1971, under the title “Interpreter Guide Courses and Interpreter Guide Regulation” with the number 13945. This regulation was amended on March 21, 1974, and renamed the “Professional Tourist Guiding Regulation,” undergoing further amendments in 1981 and 1983. The Professional Tourist Guiding Regulation, which came into force on July 2, 1986, published in the Official Gazette No. 19152, also underwent some changes and was published in the Official Gazette No. 16004 dated November 25, 2005, under the new name of the Professional Tourist Guiding Regulation. Today, tourist guides are trained not only through courses offered by the Ministry but also through two-year associate degree and four-year bachelor's degree programs at universities.

Over the years, the importance of tourism for Turkey has increased due to its cultural and natural riches, but the desired outcome has not been achieved in the legal regulations concerning guides, who play an important role in tourism. A proposed law containing the contemporary legal regulations required for guiding, the “Tourist Guiding Profession Law No. 6326,” was adopted by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on June 7, 2012, and entered into force upon its publication in the Official Gazette dated June 22, 2012.

The number of licensed professional tourist guides certified by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism currently exceeds 10,000. Most of these guides are university graduates who speak at least one, and often several, foreign languages fluently. They know Turkey inside out and do their utmost to promote our country to tourists in the best possible way and ensure they leave satisfied.