IATO resolves guide issue in Mumbai
While Mumbai was reeling under a major guide shortage, IATO was busy liasoning with the Ministry of Tourism and IIITM Gwalior to bring the course closer home.
After a long spell of experiencing acute scarcity of qualified and authorised guides in Mumbai city, the Maharashtra Chapter of IATO vowed to resolve this issue and successfully did so too. Since all guide courses took place in IIITM’s (Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management) Gwalior campus, it was difficult for applicants to travel and stay away from home for six months, especially women.
N.S. Rathor, Chairman, Western Region IATO and Regional Chapter Chairman, says, “We have a big problem as far as guides in Mumbai is concerned. The previous three to four guide courses that the Ministry of Tourism (MOT) conducts happened in IIITM’s Gwalior campus. But this time, we didn’t have much numbers from Mumbai – just 13 from Mumbai and the rest from Goa. So we requested IIITM Gwalior and the MOT to shift the course to their Goa campus and they have obliged. Most applicants for this course are women and it is very difficult for them to stay away from home six months in a row.”
The problem started when none of the students passing out of IIITM Gwalior came to Mumbai. Old guides are now unable to climb Elephanta Caves anymore. “The new sixmonth course will be starting from August-end in Goa for the first time and they will be completed by February 2017. The Goa campus also has an institute for scuba diving. It is an achievement for us,” he adds.
Historically, the majority of guides – almost 90 per cent – in Mumbai have been women. “Only now have men started to join the industry. Some women do it as a hobby, some for the love of travel and some for money,” he says.