MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Standards high on tour guides course

THERE is a central pool of ?brain strain' at about this time every year, when a collection of masochistic individuals gather together for the Tourist Board's annually-run Tour Guides Courses.

This year has been no exception, and if passers-by of the Chamber of Commerce have noticed the heavily laden car park for the past two weeks, this is the reason why. You might also have seen a couple of coaches around Stanley during the afternoons this week, full of people with glazed expressions ? this was the familiarisation trip for the prospective guides to learn all about the highlights of Stanley and the Gypsy Cove area.

This year has seen a new format to the course being introduced, with new modules and distance learning playing more of a role ? this has been as a direct result of both the requirements of the industry and taking on-board comments from previous years' course participants.

In addition to the huge amount of Falklands knowledge and background information, this year the prospective Tour Guides have also participated in sections covering customer care and tourism awareness ? ?A Falklands Welcome'. There is also a course designed specifically to cover various aspects of wildlife in the Falkland Islands. In previous years, this was condensed into just a few hours of the main course, and it was felt that this subject area needed to be expanded upon, so a new course was designed to meet this need.

It has been a particularly engaging two weeks for the participants, a combination of people seeking to become Tour Guides and existing Tour Guides attending the course as a refresher. The courses proved more popular than ever and quickly became fully subscribed, and a second course for each subject area was organised.

There is still a list of people who have made enquiries about future courses, and if there is sufficient interest, the Tourist Board will attempt to organise another course in the near future.

Connie Stevens, Director of Tourism, said all the courses held this year have been "extremely lively" and the participants have been "just fantastic in their willingness to be thrown headlong into the projects and practical exercises" throughout the courses.

She added, "I know that all the course leaders, Phil Middleton, Leona Roberts and Mike Rendell have been delighted with the interaction between the course participants, which always makes the learning experience so much more enjoyable as well as informative. There is a huge amount of information to be absorbed, not only during the courses themselves, but also from the comprehensive Information File that the participants have been inwardly digesting for the past few weeks."

Today is the day for assessments, so Connie said, "if you see groups of people on walking tours, vehicle tours or a coach tour around Stanley, please spare a thought for the participants.

"This is a sight you would normally see on a day when there is a cruise ship in port, and the fact that we have professional guides available makes a big difference to the local agents, who go to great lengths to promote all the benefits of visiting Stanley and the Falkland Islands generally."

"A huge amount of planning and organisation goes into the Tour Guides Courses - before, during and after the event," Connie said.

"I would like to thank all the participants, speakers and course/subject leaders for their invaluable input to making these courses a success. I would also like to thank all the companies, organisations and government departments for their provision of updated information each year." (Penguin News)