Hvar hosts the assembly of the Association of Tourist Guide Associations of Croatia

Representatives of the associations gathered in the Union will spend two days in the city and on the island of Hvar in discussions about topics related to their work and activities.

17. March 2023.

The Association of Tourist Guides of the Island of Hvar, with the support of the City and TZG Hvar, will host this year's 22. assembly of the Association of Associations of Tourist Guides of Croatia (ZDTVH) which will be held March 18th and 19th.

Association of Croatian Tourist Guide Societies was founded in 2005 and gathers associations of tourist guides from all regions of Croatia. The main task of ZDTVH is the protection, improvement and well-being of all tourist guides in Croatia, as well as creating conditions for the highest possible quality tourist presentation, promotion of the country's identity, importance and reputation. ZDTVH as an umbrella professional association brings together 20 associations of tourist guides from all over Croatia, with around 5 registered tourist guides.

Representatives of these associations will spend two days in the town of Hvar and on the island of Hvar in conversations about topics related to their work and activity, but they will also be educated about Hvar's history, archaeology, wines, gastronomy accompanied by local guides. The assembly will be an opportunity to exchange experiences and reflect on the challenges faced by the profession of tourist guides

The Association of Tourist Guides of the Island of Hvar is a non-profit association of professional tourist guides founded in 1998, whose members are extremely well-trained licensed tourist guides who provide detailed and specific information about the island in eight languages. This year, the Association is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

"The reason why we chose Hvar is that this year, 155 years of tourism on the island are being celebrated there. We organize our assemblies in different parts of Croatia - last year we were in Vukovar, and before that in Varaždin - because our goal is to present and lesser-known destinations. The town of Hvar is, of course, a very well-known destination, but during our stay on the island we will also visit the lesser-known Pitva, where we will have a wine tasting. We believe that in the future the education of guides should definitely focus on gastronomy and viticulture, with which the guides would further contribute to the increase of our tourist offer", she said Kristina Nuić Prka, president of ZDTVH.

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Photo: TZ Hvar

And it is precisely the proposal of the Ordinance on the professional exam for tourist guides that has been the subject of discussions among guides lately.

The profession warned that the proposal of the Ordinance does not foresee an adequate level of education, nor an appropriate valorization of the rich cultural, historical and natural heritage of our country, and that the current proposal completely unjustifiably significantly reduces the number of hours required for guide education.

This devalues ​​education, which will result in a decline in the quality of tourist guiding services and the adequate presentation of Croatia's cultural, historical and natural heritage.

"The legal regulations have changed and as a Community we were not completely satisfied with them, but the upgrading of the regulations continued with the proposal of the Ordinance on the education of tourist guides and the Ordinance on protected localities. We are members of the working group in that process, and we got to see the draft on which we and declared. This procedure is ongoing and it is one of the topics that we will address at the assembly. When it comes to the Rulebook on Education, we insist on the implementation of the European quality norm, which implies a minimum of 600 hours. At the moment, the norm is less than that, and according to the proposals we have seen, it will be even smaller. Right now, the most important thing for us is to protect the quality of leadership", stressed Nuić Prka.

The problem is that the special Ordinance defining protected localities in Croatia omits a large number of attractive locations and destinations, which means that guides will not need a special part of the exam to obtain a license and guide tourists. The profession considers it devastating and inappropriate.

"It is certain that this issue will also be one of the topics that we will deal with at the Assembly, considering that the Ordinance on protected localities is being drafted, according to which we have to reduce the list of localities by approximately five times. we are interested in what will ultimately be listed on that list. Already at the start, when we decided to organize the Assembly in Hvar, it was important to me that we show everyone who comes all the facilities that are currently on the proposed list, but also all those localities that are not included , and of which there are more. Of course, everything else that bothers us will also be discussed: what will driving look like in the future when foreigners are also allowed to do it, driving without a license... we have a lot of topics", she announced Loridana Knežević, president of the Association of Tourist Guides of the Island of Hvar, which organizes the assembly.

The role of tourist guides is to promote the destination, and they represent an important added value in tourism.

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Photo: TZ Hvar

Tourist guides interpret and present cultural heritage, which is the only thing that exempts us from globalization and represents our national corpus, so it can rightly be said that they are the squires of Croatian cultural identity in the global context of civilizational mobility.

Today, the leading tourism mainstream is experiential tourism, and only Croatian tour guides through their stories, interpretation and interpretation can reveal to tourists and visitors to Croatia the hidden soul of spatio-temporal phenomena and processes in a certain destination.

Tourist guides truly represent the destination, they indirectly influence the increased consumption of tourists, and with their performance they create an emotion towards the destination that tourists recognize and pass on.

Representatives of 18 associations of tourist guides from all parts of Croatia will attend the annual assembly of the Association of Croatian Tourist Guides in the town of Hvar, and ZDTVH has announced that on this occasion the Association of Tourist Guides of Makarska will be included in the association as the 21st member. 

Cover photo: Pixabay

 

17. March 2023.