According to MD Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Aftab ur Rehman Rana, the government is establishing the licencing system because the mushroom growth of unpracticed and unprofessional tourist guides and operators is tarnishing the country’s image in the eyes of foreign tourists.
“To make our tourism sector productive, it is crucial that our tour operators, tourist guides, hospitality sector, etc. must be trained as per the international standards. All types of licenses to play any role in this sector must be issued after strict measures of training and testing,” MD PTDC added.
He further said that “Already tour operators, tour guides, hotels, guest houses, etc., get operation licenses from the Department of Tourism Services and each province has a branch of this office, including the federal capital. We are currently taking measures to enhance the system and ensure that the services provided to visitors are up to the mark.”
“Recently, after consulting all the key stakeholders of the tourism and hospitality sector, the National Minimum Standards (NMS) for Tourism and Hospitality has been developed, which will be further applied all over Pakistan. Parallel to NMS, a training program has also been framed which will be mandatory to get a license and to work in this sector as hospitality worker, tour operator, tourist guide, etc.,” he noted.
Aftab further continued the discussion, “To improve the quality of services in this sector, we are going to conduct the first-ever ‘National Tour Guide Training Program’ in the current month with the collaboration of various other agencies, i.e., the College of Tourism and Hotel Management (COTHM), Sustainable Tourism Foundation Pakistan (STFP), Department of Tourist Services (DTS), and Pakistan Association of Tour Operators (PATO), etc. Ultimately, with the coordination of all stakeholders, this extensive training program will be launched as a regular activity. It is a subsidized program because the PTDC and other stakeholders will bear the major costs, including training material, the trainers’ costs, etc. The trainees will bear only 30% charges to cover the logistics, travel costs, transport, etc.”