Duygu Kıt / Gazete Duvar
Former heads of Turkey’s tour guide chambers voiced their concerns regarding the draft law seeking to change requirements for registered tour guides.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry has proposed a new occupational law on tour guiding, with significant changes to eligibility requirements and reductions to penalties for unlicensed guides.
The draft has passed the Parliamentary committee and currently awaits the parliamentary vote. Upon backlash from trade unions and tour guides, the vote was postponed until after the Eid holiday.
Sedat Bornovalı, the former head of the Istanbul Chamber of Tour Guides, asked the Ministry to hear the complaints from the base and recall the draft law.
“The Ministry has listened to demands from the wrong crowd, such as those who see tour guiding as ‘Plan B,’ or those who want to practice without the necessary language skills,” he said.
For Bornovalı, tour guiding without foreign language knowledge was…