International Tourist Guide Day 2019: Free Guided Tours to All

“One community
Many different voices
Many experience choices”
– FEG’s motto for International Tourist Guide Day 2019.

In celebration of International Tourist Guide Day 2019, Greek qualified tourist guides are introducing guests to interesting cultural sites in various parts of Greece.

Held on February 21 each year, International Tourist Guide Day aims to raise public awareness about the fact that tourist guides are cultural ambassadors of the regions they represent.

“The idea behind this celebration is for the professional tourist guides to demonstrate the high quality of standards in our vocational training, skills and in the guiding services in our own countries; to contribute to the promotion of our destinations in our cities, regions and countries; and to support sustainable tourism growth, by drawing the attention of the media, authorities and tourism stakeholders on the importance of our profession, as the qualified ambassadors of cultural and natural heritage in our own areas,” the president of the European Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (FEG), Efi Kalampoukidou, told GTP Headlines.

Some of FEG’s European member-associations have already organized their annual ITGD 2019 events, but most of them are planned to take place within this week. More info is published on the FEG’s facebook event page here, which is updated with news and photos.

In Greece, a number of events and excursions have been announced, including an educational and entertaining treasure hunt by the Athens Licensed Tourist Guides Association on Sunday, February 24, in the Greek capital.

Other events include guided tours to museums on Corfu and to sites in the Argolis region.

Moreover, last week, the Tourist Guides Association of Thessaloniki & Northern Greece toured 300 people around the historic city of Thessaloniki.

Celebrations for the International Tourist Guide Day were held for the first time in 1990 by the former president of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA), Titina Loizidou, from Cyprus.

Since then, tourist guide associations and federations from hundreds of countries across the world have been adding the day to their annual agendas and offering all kinds of events, including free guided tours and treasure hunts to the general public, disabled or disadvantaged people, schools, tourism partners; and lotteries to raise money for charity causes.

As announced by the WFTGA, the 2019 theme for this year’s International Tourist Guide Day is “Tourist Guiding in the Digital Era”.

Photos: Tourist Guides Association of Thesslaoniki & Northern Greece / Rania Kotinopoulou & Christina Mamtoumidou