CHENNAI : S Keshav has been a tourist guide in Mahabalipuram for over 20 years. He was not formally educated, but picked up enough English to be able to converse with tourists. “I have grown up here and while I may not be a qualified or licensed guide, I have a wealth of stories that were passed down to me by my family members,” he says. “And when I saw that this was a way for me to support my family, I leaped at the opportunity. Everything was going fine but now it is getting hard. A majority of people either come with licensed tour guides or don’t want to spend any money on a guide.
The charm of a guided tour along with a guide is fading away. Audio guides and travel apps have replaced their jobs. “The scenario has changed a lot in the last few years,” said Keshav*. “Earlier, it was challenging to convince Indian travellers to use our services, because they would complain that we were charging too much. Now with Google, Lonely Planet, and other sites, we have even lost foreign travellers who were comfortable with loosening their purse strings. Many of them either have a guide through their tour package or don’t feel the need for a guide, and are content reading what’s written on the various boards.”
“This Google has ruined everything for us,” grumbled A Manikandan*. “I was telling a story about the Shore Temple that I had heard from my grandmother, and these tourists immediately began trying to find the story on Google! How do you tell this generation not everything is on the internet?”
However, the licensed tour guides who are attached to the Ministry of Tourism and pass the exam are not suffering this way. “It depends on the tourists’ perspective, and their interest in knowing about a place and it’s culture,” said N Abirami Shyla, a licensed guide , who has been working for over 10 years.
“There is a lot available on the Internet but a good tour guide can add a lot to an experience.” Shyla speaks French and deals with a lot of French tourists who, she said, often read a lot about India before coming here. Yet, they would have questions about the place, and a guide, whether licensed or the unlicensed ones with extensive experience, was the best way to get their doubts cleared.
Charles M, secretary of the Tourist Guides’ Federation of South India, said that the relevance of a guide has not diminished with the Internet. He mentioned that it was going to be a slippery slope for unlicensed local guides going forward.
“The Architectural Survey of India had proposed to only have licensed guides enter the heritage sites that it governs,” he said. “If this is implemented, it will affect local guides. Their livelihood is already suffering because the mentality of travellers is changing. Their livelihood is already suffering; Most of those who travel through a tour operator have licensed guides. Others are backpackers, content with reading from their books, online, or using audio guides. As many guides rely on folklore rather than facts, many tourists fear they might be ill-informed.”
Not all licensed guides echo this sentiment though. A state-government licensed guide who spoke to CE on the condition of anonymity, said. “The Internet has become a major deterrent,” he said. “Many travel agencies are doing away with guides as part of the package because so much is available on the Internet. And they either have a senior guide or hire a local, unlicensed guide because they save a lot that way. It is more economical for them to do that than pay someone like me.”
(*Names changed on request)
Job in danger
Charles M, secretary of the Tourist Guides’ Federation of South India, said that the relevance of a guide has not diminished with the Internet. He mentioned that it was going to be a slippery slope for unlicensed local guides going forward as regulation was expected to get tighter. “The Architectural Survey of India had proposed to only have licensed guides enter the heritage sites that it governs,” he said. “If this is implemented, it will adversely affect and wipe out local guides. Their livelihood is already suffering because the mentality of travellers is changing.