Rebooting Safe Tourism with a new Top-up Course for Tour Guides

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the importance of health and safety practices in international travel and tourism. As countries around the world reopen borders, international tourist are prioritising health and safety when deciding their post-pandemic holiday destinations.

We believe that stakeholders in the tourism industry need to work collaboratively to promote Mauritius as a safe destination. This can only be achieved by continuing to improve the safety management skills of tourism workers at a ground level. In Mauritius, we often travel to tourist attractions that are remote and isolated from medical facilities and emergency services. This presents a unique set of risks and challenges to ensure safe tourism experiences. It is essential that when tourists travel to our island, they receive a world class standard of service with their safety and security as the number one consideration.

A single major health and safety incident has the potential to cause significant damage to the reputation of the entire tourism industry and impact all tourism stakeholders. We must make it a top priority to upskill the tourism workforce and businesses to manage tourist safety.

Following the diploma in Tour Guiding sponsored to over 35 students in partnership with Mahatma Gandhi Institute, it was suggested that a top-up training course was required to further develop Nature Base Tourism Activities, aiming to upskill tourism workers in providing a safer tourism experience. The training will focus on Safety and Security, Environmental issues, Lack of product knowledge to share with visitors and Unethical behaviour and other relevant issues.

The course content is currently being developed by the Tourism Authority, in collaboration with Ecole Hôtelière Sir Gaëtan Duval, and is expected to be dispensed to around 100 tour guides by August 2022.

Registration coming soon.

Stay tuned for more.