Towards tourist guides professionalisation

To improve services offered by tourist guides in Burundi, the National Tourism Office with the support of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), has recently organized a training for Tourist guides in different sites and parks in Burundi. The trained tourist guides have taken advantage of a seven day training of theory and a three day training of practice to get really experimented in their job as well as discover other sites and parks.

Here is the tourist circuit followed during the training: Rusizi National Park- Kibira National Park (Teza area)- Ngozi – Muyinga-Border between Burundi and Tanzania-Kayanza- Kibira National Park(Rwegura area)-Artificial lake-Rwegura Dam-Bujumbura.

The trained guides have been satisfied with the training as before they thought their job was unvaluable and were unexperienced about the specificity of each park as said by Deus Dédite Nibaruta, the tourist guide in Kibira National Park.

During the tour, each guide in his job played the role of guiding others considered tourists. Once arrived in Ruvubu National Park, Gasave area, one can see a guide named Sylvestre Kinwa, committed to his job despite his age. He does well his job in guarding the park and giving accurate information. He works as tourist guide since 1990.

At the end, the acting Director General of Burundi National Tourism Office, Christophe Ndikubwayo, gave certificates to the trained guides. The ceremonies were held in a camping lodge built inside the Ruvubu National Park. Let’s mention that 10 out of 30 guides have been trained. The acting Director General has encouraged them to work hardly in the sense of improving the quality of their services. He also acknowledged the WTO and the team who worked on the project.