A total of 31 unemployed tribal youths from Raigad district will get a "Special 5 days Guide Training" at the Karnala Bird Sanctuary in Panvel and Phansad Sanctuary in Murud. The special training programme will be conducted by the Directorate of Tourism (DoT), Government of Maharashtra in association with the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM), an autonomous under Ministry for Tourism, Government of India. The training programme will be conducted between August 2 and August 6, 2021.
This is the first-ever offline tourist guide training programme being conducted by DoT. Of the 31 local tribal youth, including 20 from the Karnala Sanctuary area and 11 from the Phansad Sanctuary area between the age group of 20 and 35, will be provided 5 days training programme. They will also be given certificates on completion of the programme.
“The purpose of the training programme is the enable them to earn in their areas without going anywhere,” said an official from the DoT
According to the official, the training programme consists of both theory and practical. “They will be introduced with the basics of tourism, challenges in tour guide profession, roles, and responsibilities of tour guides and how to become a good tour guide,” said the official, adding that the concept of biodiversity, nature trail, wildlife among in Sanctuary, how to practically conduct walking tours, handling difficulties, difficult tourists and stress management will be taught.
While stressing on the scope of tourism in Maharashtra, Dhananjay Sawalkar, Director, DoT said there is a huge demand for trained guides in places with diverse tourist destinations. “It is very important to understand the tourist destinations as well as to make the visit enjoyable and unforgettable. Tourists need good guides to provide authentic and relevant information about the tourist destinations,” said Sawalkar.
Aditi Tatkare, State Minister of Maharashtra for Tourism and Guardian Minister of Raigad said, “This initiative by DoT for the unemployed youth of tribal area will definitely prove to be helpful for them. This training programme will further be useful in spreading the glory of our state, as an excellent tour guide, in different corners of the world. With the help of this programme, high-quality tourist guides related to respective destinations in the State will be ready.”
