MINISTER OF STATE FOR TOURISM (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)
(SHRI PRAHLAD SINGH PATEL)
(a) and (b): At present, there are 3227 Regional Level Tourist Guides available in the Country. The State/Union Territory - wise details are given in Annexure-I.
As per the Guidelines dated 22 September, 2011 pertaining to the selection and grant of guide license to Regional Level Tourist Guides (RLG) – 2011, there was a provision to conduct mandatory Refresher Courses for the guides who are due for Renewal of the Regional Level Tourist Guide License. The Refresher Courses were conducted by the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) or the approved/designated Institute of the Ministry of Tourism.
However, the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has withdrawn the respective guidelines with effect from 02.03.2020.
Presently Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has launched the Incredible India Tourist Facilitators (IITF) Certification Programme, a Pan-India online learning program that is open to all, subject to fulfilment of eligibility criteria, and can be undertaken by anyone from anywhere in the country. The Programme aims at creating a pool of well-trained/skilled professionals for facilitating the visit of tourists at various destinations even in remote areas across the country.
Under the Incredible India Tourist Facilitators (IITF) Certification Programme guidelines dated 28th February, 2020 provision has been provided for the existing Regional Level Guides to get themselves registered under the Incredible India Tourist Facilitators (IITF) Certification Programme subject to the completion of Refresher Course in order to get the IITF Advance Category (Heritage) Certificate.
(c) and (d): The Ministry of Tourism has also adopted National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant Tour Guide and Heritage Tour Guide courses in its special initiative called the “Hunar Se Rozgar Tak” (HSRT) under the scheme of Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP). The objective of this initiative is to create employable skills amongst the youth above the age of 18 years with the basic objective to reduce the skill gap affecting the hospitality and tourism sector and to ensure the spread of economic benefit of Tourism to the poor. The duration of these courses for Tour Guide and Heritage Tour Guide is 420 hours and 300 hours respectively.
The details of autonomous institutes under the Ministry of Tourism that are carrying out training programmes in the Tourism & Hospitality Sectors are at Annexure-II.
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