Guatemala being an undeveloped nation, our Tourism is also in process of development. A tour guide is expected to provide assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation in the language of preference. This person normally should possess an area-specific qualification recognized by the appropriate authority in the case of Guatemala INGUAT (Guatemalan Board of Tourism) ensuring the program is carried out as described and sold to the traveler.
In Europe, tourist guides are represented by FEG, the European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations. In Guatemala we recently have created Associations like AGTS (Asociacion de Guias de Sacatepequez, La Antigua, Guatemala) and the federation of tour guide associations known as FEDITURGUA (Federacion de Asociaciones de Guias de Turismo de Guatemala) In Europe, the tourist guiding qualification is specific to each and every country; in some cases the qualification is national, in some cases it is broken up into regions. In Guatemala Tour guides are required to have a license with the following classifications GENERAL, LOCAL, COMMUNITY and SPECIALIZED. GENERAL meaning this guide is certified to guide groups in the whole republic of Guatemala, LOCAL - meaning this guide can only guide a certain region or tourist attractions, COMMUNITY tour guides are those who guide communities in rural areas of Guatemala and work usually in sustainable tourism and last are SPECIALIZED guides usually general tour guides with advanced education on a certain field like Archaeology, Anthropology, History and so on.
The situation with tour guides in Guatemala and other undeveloped countries is that our cultural background ground, education, and of course social and political situation is reflected in our work. Also the fact that Travel agencies in Guatemala take licensed guides only when feel obligated to contract one usually one is contracted that doesn’t have the necessary preparation and of course for a lower fee and many times for a tip. INGUAT (Guatemala’s Board of Tourism does not have the capacity to enforce a law that exist but is not applied which states That only trained and certified individuals with a license can play the roles of tour guides. For this reason I ask everyone visiting Guatemala to verify that the guide you are using has a badge visible that accredits him and demand services authorized by the government, If you don't you will be contributing to the slow development of Guatemala and bad reputation in reference to the quality of our services.
By
Erwin Rivas
Guatemalan General Guide INGUAT# 627