Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec 13 /Trend I.Isibalayeva/
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan will focus on the republic's tourist agencies in the next few days over issue of the certification of tour guides at the Eurovision-2012 song contest, Eldar Aslanov from the Institute of Tourism Ministry told Trend
"In an appeal to the tourist agencies they will be notified that steps to ensure certification of guides should be taken. If they have no guide and they want to employ someone for a short time, they should specify the details of these guides, especially, if that person is accredited," Mr Aslanov said.
He said that agencies providing travel services will be given time before the last working day in April to fulfil the requirement.
Accreditation is free, he added. Guides for accreditation must submit the necessary documents and then pass a language examination to enable them to conduct tours.
A commission established in connection with the event, will check the guides' knowledge of history, culture, art, architecture, tour guides, etc., corresponding to these requirements. A certificate will be issued and they will gain the right to become a guide for five years.
Mr Aslanov noted that the issue would be heavily monitored and the goal of all these activities is to provide high quality services for guests who will arrive in Azerbaijan on Eurovision-2012 and to effectively use and recognise the tourist potential of Azerbaijan.
"We can guarantee quality of service only with our certified guides, because we teach them and are responsible for their knowledge level. However if someone will tries to carry out guide activities without obtaining a certificate and runs into problems, we aren't responsible for it," Mr Aslanov said.
To obtain a certificate each guide must attend guides courses organised by the Institute of Tourism