Tourist guides may be regulated

JAKARTA (JP): Travel agencies are requesting that guides, particularly those involved in ecotourism trips, carry permits.

This measure would increase the credibility of the activities offered for domestic and foreign tourists, besides the credibility of the travel agencies themselves, an official of the City Tourism Agency said.

Parlindungan Hutabarat said yesterday that the requirement that guides be licensed was already a policy of the Ministry of Post, Tourism and Telecommunications.

He conveyed the expectations of the travel agencies after the opening of a two-week training session for guides, held by the agency and a number of nature lovers' organizations.

Guides, he said, should come from these nature organizations, which he said number 150 in the city, along with some 10,000 informal nature lover groups.

The training, focusing on potential tourism spots in Lampung, West Java, Jakarta, Central Java and Yogyakarta, was opened by the head of the agency, Fauzi Bowo. (anr)