The Department of Tourism recently announced that all valid licence-holding tourist guides will be required to undergo a mandatory competency test over the next four months. According to the department, the test is intended to uphold the quality of tour guides and identify skill gaps. However, some members of the tourism industry have questioned the necessity of such an assessment.
The notification issued on Tuesday states that the department aims to enhance professionalism, quality, and competency of tour guides in providing high-value services.
The test will be conducted from May to August.
The department says that it will help understand the training needs, which it will accordingly facilitate.
Damcho Rinzin, Director of the Department of Tourism said “Some people say that our guides lack knowledge and are not sufficiently competent. Therefore, this assessment will help us identify the areas where we can provide support to enhance their service.”
The assessment will test practical, theory, and communication skills of guides in order to evaluate their competency comprehensively.
However, the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) and the Guide Association of Bhutan said that the assessment is redundant, as guides are already required to undergo an assessment upon completing their training at recognised institutes.
They added that the department should focus on providing training and up-skilling opportunities, rather than conducting repeated assessments and filtering out individuals.
Karma Namgay, Board Member of Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators said “Our tourist guides have already been assessed and hold valid licences. I believe they should receive more orientation, training, and grooming rather than undergoing another assessment. A purely academic evaluation will not effectively serve the purpose.”
ABTO also shared the need to provide orientation that will brief them on the code of conduct rather than testing the guides that could waste human resource and time.
Similarly, the Guide Association of Bhutan said that the department should establish clear criteria for selecting tourist guides.
They emphasised the need for a specific qualifying mark, particularly in English, as they believe strong language skills form the foundation for improving the overall quality of guides.
The tourism department said that the test is only an assessment and not for filtering out individuals. It also noted that although there are no formal pass or fail criteria, licenses may be revoked for guides who perform exceptionally poorly.
Currently, there are over 2,700 licensed tour guides in the country.
Sangay Chozom & Singye Dema
Edited by Kipchu
