New European Standard on Tourist Guide Training

Tourist Guides are representatives of cities, regions and countries for which they are qualified. It depends largely on them if visitors feel welcome, want to stay longer or decide to come back. They therefore contribute considerably to the perception of the destination.

Tourist Guides are able to help travelers understand the culture of the region visited and the way of life of its inhabitants. They have a particular role on the one hand to promote the cultural and natural heritage whilst on the other hand to help ensure its sustainability by making visitors aware of its importance and vulnerability.

The new European Standard EN 15565 supports European Union efforts to facilitate free movement of provision of services within its member states but also emphasizes the importance of area-specific tourist guides to high quality provision of tourism services. This will be achieved by a common high standard of qualification for tourist guides in all European countries.

The standard provides requirements and recommendations on subjects like competencies, theoretical knowledge, presentation techniques, communications techniques, group management, practical training and qualification of trainers which a tourist guide training scheme shall comprise, as well as requirements for minimum numbers of training units.

Requirements for the provision of professional tourist guide training and qualification programs are now specified in the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) EN 15565.

DIN EN 15565 gives freedom to countries, regions and cities to decide the level, extent and main areas of their training programs, providing these programs meet these minimum standards and requirements for tourist guide training which is a prerequisite for a quality tourist guide service in all member countries.