Azerbaijani Ministry of Culture and Tourism will consider the activity of tour guides working in the country without certificate illegal, Minister of Culture and Tourism Abulfas Garayev told journalists.
Minister said that about 500 tour guides will get certification in Baku till summer next year: “Despite the education, the certain limitations will be set to people who didn’t get the guiding certificate. The question is that the certain part of the guides got education on the basis of manuals written during Soviet time and which do not give an opportunity to perceive the significance of our national values. As an independent country, we have new view to this sphere. We need educated staff potential in order to convey the realities of modern Azerbaijan. The certificates given to the guides by Trade Union during the Soviet time were not at a state level”.
Minister added that the guides who got certificate win the right to work on this type of activity for 5 years. Garayev noted that every guide should be professional: “It is important for every guide to participate in guiding courses organized in the Azerbaijan Tourism Institute. As in all civil countries, the guides must have special signs like badge”.
Garayev said that tourists would be able to sign an agreement with the guides that they chose before arriving in the country. Every guide should establish e-database for it.