ZAMBOANGA
CITY - Do you want to be an accredited
tour guide?
Here’s a good news for all tour guides, tour guide “wannabes”
and primary tourism enterprises, as the Department of Tourism (DOT)- 9 is set
to conduct “Tour Guiding Seminar-Workshop” on May 2-31 in one of the local
hotels here in the city.
Senior Tourism Operations Officer Ludy Silorio of
DOT said in an interview the training is open to all interested individuals who
want to pursue tour guiding as a career.
“This is one huge opportunity for everyone, the
last time we had this kind of training was 12 years ago,” Silorio said, as she
encourages interested parties, individuals to take this big break.
“Please don’t wait for another 12 years; take the
leap now, take the challenge and attend this training,” the active tourism
operations officer emphasized.
The 30-day training is practically free of charge,
as the DOT will be spending some P20 thousand per individual/participant for
the entire training duration.
“We are
targeting some 40 participants from all over the Zamboanga Peninsula region,”
Silorio declared.
However, a minimal fee of P3 thousand per
participant will be collected to defray expenses for training kits, lunch and snacks
during the 30-day training period.
“It’s just a small amount compared to what DOT will
be spending for the training,” Silorio said.
The tourism department has allocated some P700 thousand
for the said training.
Silorio said a tour guiding-pre screening which
will include aptitude test and interview will be conducted on the following
dates: April 5 – Dipolog City; April 23
– Pagadian City; April 29 – Zamboanga City. Walk-in applicants are accepted.
Applicants who passed the pre-screening will
proceed to the 30-day rigid training and workshop on tour guiding and will be
given accreditation by DOT at the end of the workshop.
Interested
applicants must comply with the following requirements: (a) at least two years
in college and (b) fluent in English. Conversational skill in other languages
other than Filipino is a plus factor.
Applicants must submit their resume with photo and
duly filled out application form downloadable through the link found on DOT’s
Facebook page (DOT Zamboanga Peninsula) before the scheduled pre-training
interviews. Email the requirements at dotr9@yahoo.com.
It can be recalled that Republic Act 9593,
otherwise known as Tourism Act of 2009 requires mandatory accreditation of
primary tourism enterprises such as hotels, tour operators, tour guides and
other similar entities.
