Association of Professional Tourist Guides

Annual Report For The Year 1998

AS APTG APPROACHES its tenth anniversary, membership has again increased significantly - this year by more than 9%. Our influence in the industry also continues to increase and we are now in the process of establishing (jointly with the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides) the Institute of Tourist Guiding. This is a huge undertaking but one which will greatly enhance the status of our profession nation-wide.
The major threat to our profession continues to be the use of unqualified 'guides' so the campaigning issues of the year have been: promotion of the Blue Badge (the qualification of all professionally qualified, tourist board registered guides throughout the UK) and complementary campaigns first on training - to avert the introduction and acceptance by tourist boards of an inferior training programme leading to an NVQ and to promote instead our embryo Institute of Tourist Guide Training - and, second, to promote enforcement of the regulations prohibiting the dangerous practice of coach drivers making commentaries whilst driving. Another campaign, for which we have the support of the MSF Parliamentary Group (MPs and Lords), is to promote more guiding by Blue Badge guides in the Palace of Westminster.
APTG is an active member of the London Tourist Board (which fully supports all the above campaigns) and of the Federation of European Tourist Guide Associations (FEG) whose Secretary General, Treasurer and founder Chairman are APTG members. In 1998 APTG hosted the FEG biennial convention in London. It was well attended and was addressed, amongst others, by the General Secretary, as well as by the Minister for Tourism, the Lord Mayor of London, the Chairman of the British Tourist Authority and a representative of the European Commission, DG XXIII. As a result of discussions with APTG at the Convention, the Irish tourist guides have initiated negotiations to set up a branch of MSF in Ireland.
APTG is a member of the London Coach Forum which is seeking implementation of a coach strategy for London. An APTG submission was made to the DETR on coach and public transport issues. Discussions have taken place with the Minister and officials at the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and submissions made on Sustainable Tourism, the future of the English Tourist Board and the Tourism Forum. We have worked with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) on various coach safety issues, with the British Standards Institute and its European equivalent regarding professional definition, with the Department for Education and Employment regarding transferability of qualifications across Europe and with the British Tourist Authority and the English Tourist Board regarding a wide range of tourism issues. APTG is in constant touch with the principal sites in which members guide and has good relations with the travel trade, including the British Incoming Tour Operators Association (BITOA). We took a stand at two travel trade shows as well as producing display material, promotional leaflets and posters during the year.
APTG continues to run an extensive training and development programme for its members including an extremely successful two-day residential seminar at MSF's training centre, Whitehall College.