Let’s train tour guides to help market tourism

YESTERDAY, I read online that Kenya’s tourism marketers had kicked off a training of tour guides to help enhance visitor experience among travellers into the country.

The training is aimed at equipping the participants with destination knowledge, customer experience, skills and image building as part of destination assurances of readiness for business.

This is a very good initiative by the Kenyans and I think we should copy such models if we are to make progress in the tourism sector, particularly at a time we are trying to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tour guides have a key role in the tourism service chain.

They play the role of destination brand ambassadors through their interactions with visitors.

Tour guides have a lot of influence on how visitors view and experience the destination, noting that the information they share with their clients can either build or destroy perceptions about the destination.

If we take our tour guides for training, they should also be subjected to the implementation of tourism and travel safety protocols to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

The tourism sector has slumped following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, as restrictions which were put in place locally and internationally curtailed travel.

The sector has lost millions in United States dollars since March.

Tour guides play an integral role in the tourism ecosystem being the first point of interaction with visitors upon the arrival in the country.

Such training should go a long way in equipping them with destination information and skills to better handle visitors.

With destinations currently looking to bounce back from the effects of the coronavirus crisis, tour guides will be critical in ensuring that tourists arriving in the country have a memorable experience that will persuade them to visit again and even pull others to the destination. Afrikan