NFTGA Press Release: NFTGA Supports Professionalisation of Tourist Guides and Industry Collaboration

The NFTGA has been supportive of the idea of professionalisation of Tourist Guides from its inception in 2018. As such, we have advocated for the establishment of a Tourist Guide Professional Body and we have lent our support to the concepts of Continuous Professional Development (CPD), mentorship programmes, and personal growth through a career path that suits the needs of the industry, and the personal interests of the guide.

Since the end of the lockdowns and the gradual recovery of the tourism industry, we have largely been involved in contributing our inputs, in consultation with our stakeholders, towards the mapping of the future tourist guide qualifications. This has also been a period of deep introspection and the start of much closer collaboration with various parties in the industry who share our goals and ideals, so as to optimise and derive greater benefit from the common areas, while reducing the individual workloads and broadening our coverage of mutually agreed upon principles.

In broad terms, what we are aiming to achieve includes:

1. Advancement of the guiding profession
2. Advocation for the interests of guides in general
3. Enhancement of the standards of professionalism in guides
4. Creation of an environment where continuous development and best practice serve to improve the tourist experience, by promoting quality guiding
5. Providing guides with access to a network of skilled and responsible professionals to mentor and guide their professional development

Although professional guiding can be separated into three distinct categories—nature guiding, culture guiding, and adventure guiding—we firmly believe that professionalism lends itself to a range of career paths, and that the one chosen by each particular guide will be different. To some, professionalism would imply a narrow focus with a very exclusive and select speciality, such as a culture guide specialising in wines and oenology. But to others, professionalisation could imply the opposite, with a personal guide having the necessary knowledge and skills to create an integrated experience where guests are seamlessly guided from a cultural experience in the winelands and cities into a nature experience in the mountains and the bush.

We have considered the various options and complexities of the broadly defined sectors and have come to several significant conclusions:

1. We strongly support the establishment of The South African Adventure Industries Association (SA AIA) as the Professional Body responsible for the professionalisation of Adventure Tourism. We emphasise that the adventure industry is highly complex, with its wide range of land-based, water-based, and airborne activities, and the Professional Body will not be exclusively focused on the tourist guiding sector.
2. We also strongly support the establishment of The Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA) as the Professional Body responsible for the professionalisation of Nature Guides.
3. We do not believe that further compartmentalisation along guiding sector lines will be beneficial to guides or to the industry.
4. We have examined the structure FGASA proposes for the various categories and levels within the Professional Body and believe that a similar structure would be appropriate for Culture Guides as well.
5. Our NFTGA membership analysis shows that a significant percentage, especially among National Guides, are both Culture and Nature qualified.
6. The most effective way forward is to collaborate and promote FGASA as the Professional Body for both Nature and Culture Guides. This would result in a stronger Professional Body with a larger membership and greater industry recognition.

Towards the end of 2024 and into early 2025, we embarked on consultations with NFTGA’s industry stakeholders in both the private sector and provincial governments. There has been overwhelming support for these collaborative initiatives, particularly for the idea of a single Professional Body representing both Culture and Nature Guides.

We will engage and seek input from our NFTGA Members during the AGM as we discuss the scope and impact of these initiatives. Furthermore, we are extending our engagement to a broader spectrum of the tourism industry, including those who are not currently NFTGA members or direct stakeholders, to raise awareness of the ongoing processes.

We invite all interested parties to contact us to discuss and contribute to the professionalisation of guiding within the tourism sector.

For further information and engagement, please contact:

Name: Francois Collin
Designation: Director: Media Liaison
Email: francoisgcollin@gmail.com