The Philippine Tour Operators Association (Philtoa) will start offering sustainable training programme for tour guides in July/August 2018 to address the shortage and improve the quality of services offered.
The course syllabus comprises four levels of training – entry-level community tour guides, followed by the regional, national and international levels, shared Philtoa’s president Cesar Cruz.
Philtoa is currently finalising the purchase of a school in Las Pinas in metro Manila which will be used as a main training ground. The 1,400m2 site has an existing school which will be converted into a tourism training campus with simulated hotel rooms for entry-level skills. All future trainings and seminars under Philtoa Academy will be held in Las Pinas once the deal goes through.
“Eventually, we want to connect with Tesda (Technical Education and Skills Development Authority) (to obtain accreditation),” said Cruz.
Cruz also shared that scholarships will be offered to 20 students from the first batch of K to 12 students who graduated in March this year. K to 12 is the country’s new education programme from kindergarten to senior high school, which translates to 12 years of basic education. And as high school graduates are normally 18 years old, this prepares students for tertiary education and employment.
The training of tour guides will expand the activities of Philtoa Academy which has had ongoing seminars – covering topics such as costing and preparing tour packages, to twice a year actual operations for travel agency managers – for the past five years.
