Skift Take
For tourist guides who manage to ride out travel's shutdown, a new set of challenges and expectations will be awaiting the profession on the other side.
No part of the tourism value chain has been unaffected by the pandemic, with tour guides possibly among the worst hit.
"The very first job to stop is our job. Then the last job that will open is our job," Baris H. P. Kavala, a tourist guide in Turkey, states soberly.
And now, as the world inches toward reopening, tourist guides — many of whom are freelance, and virtually all of whom have been without work over the past few months — find themselves with a new responsibility on their hands: figuring out how they will do their jobs safely and make sure visitors follow health and safety protocols in the countries they visit. For a profession that was shifting to maintain its relevance in a world of apps and self-guided tours, this is another change that requires adaptation.
Alushca Ritchie, president of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations, said that in many cases guides are facing this new responsibility on their own.
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"What we are finding is that there's a gap with communication between tourist guiding sector and the destinations. So although the destin
