Problems in the work of tourist guides: Even those who do not speak Montenegrin talk about Montenegro

The state must urgently regulate the work system of tourist guides, because currently, even those who do not know the Montenegrin language are talking to tourists about Montenegro. There are many problems - from unfair competition to the stamping of licenses, but also insufficiently regulated social status, assessed the councilor of the Association of Tourist Guides of Montenegro. Ivan Percobic.

He points out that they are simply invisible to the competent institutions, which are not interested in tourist guides.

"And we are the front line, we are the ones who talk about this country to the tourists who come. We represent the country, we mitigate the bad things. We are the ones who can change their opinion that they may have had about our country. We represent our country as ambassadors. Imagine a bad ambassador who has dozens of groups of tourists during the season, what kind of image does he convey to guests about Montenegro. That's why we want to check who can get a license. We want state institutions to hear us, because our experience is significant, we can contribute to pass better laws. Simply, if they ask us anything, because we are here to help the state to regulate this area in some way and enable quality work. We are individuals, we have an Association, but unfortunately we have no one to turn to, enter through one ear, out the other ear. And we have huge problems. Montenegro lives on tourism, and we all want as many people as possible to come," he told "Vijesti".

He says that he often hears from tourists that they have visited many countries, but that Montenegro is the most beautiful they have seen.

"Through them, I understood even more, even though I travel a lot around the world, how beautiful our country is, how much we should appreciate it, how much we should protect it," he said.

Education is a problem

He states that there are currently one and a half thousand guides on the list in Montenegro, but that the actual number engaged in this work is 300 to 350.

"The huge problem is that the education for the tourist guide must be changed. The first thing that needs to be done is that at least a third of the lectures should be practical teaching (in the field), as is the case in many organized countries. Unfortunately, now practical teaching is not even five percent, while 95 percent is theory. Those people need to have practice in order to learn something."

Perčobić emphasized that it should be prohibited to issue licenses to non-residents and persons who only know the most basic words of our language.

"We, as an Association, have stopped accepting new guides because we believe that this education is not good enough, because people who do not know a hundred words of our language get their license. Imagine that your country is represented by someone who does not know your language, does not even have basic communication . Such people manage to get a tourist guide license, which is unacceptable. Any other country would not allow it. Those same guides who do not know our language, work below the price, which is a huge problem for other guides. It discredits our work, which is why old guides, professionals, are leaving this business, because it is no longer worthwhile for them to stay in it".

Many do not take local guides

He warns that foreign tour guides and domestic "quasi-guides", such as taxi drivers, act as guides, but also that the problem is that groups of foreign guests, who come by bus from Croatia and other neighboring countries, do not take local guides.

"It's a huge problem, because our law, for example, obliges you to have guides for locations like the Old Town of Budva, the Old Town of Bar... The problem is that you don't need a guide on the road between Bar and Budva. The fact that these guides will tell the groups between Bar and Budva, that is left to them, which is out of the question. They will then come in front of the Old Town of Budva and say that the group is free because he 'told them all' on the bus, so they avoid taking a local guide who would brought the history and culture of our country to tourists much better. We simply can't do anything to them, we are powerless, and the question is how that same guide presented Montenegro to tourists."

According to him, during the corona virus pandemic, they volunteered together with the inspection, trying to suppress the work of such guides.

"We warned those guides that they can't do that, that they have to hire local guides. There were cases where they were detained, but the fines are ridiculous, a hundred euros or something like that. Those were rare cases, because mostly they disband the groups in front of the Old Town and let them go tourists to go around on their own. Unfortunately, we do not have a penal system that would properly suppress such phenomena. It is necessary to introduce a strict penal system like the one in Croatia. It is impossible to bring a group of tourists there and not take their guide, because whoever would not do that , receives a penalty - a half-year ban on entry into Croatia, and the penalties are enormous. By introducing such a penal system, they would bring order, enable better filling of the budget, but also the engagement of the inspection. You have only a couple of places where everything could be checked, those are Perast, Budva, Biogradska gora, Stari Bar, Kotor...".

Deficit languages ​​and deficiencies in the law

Examples of unfair competition are visible everywhere, especially when it comes to cruise agencies that do not want to increase the daily wages of guides, even though they have increased the prices of excursions for tourists, says Perčobić.

"Unfortunately, many guides accept to work at those lower prices, because we were hit by the corona crisis when many did not work".

He believes that the emphasis should be placed on the education of tourist guides for deficient languages.

"English is being forced, you have the stamping of hundreds of licenses for English language guides. You have plenty of English guides, even everyone who knows another foreign language knows English. Deficient languages ​​must be forced, first of all German, French, Chinese... All of you languages ​​from which we have a lot of guests, but there is a lack of guides. Every year you cannot find enough guides for French and German".

He emphasizes that the current law is also a big problem.

"Social status, insufficiently regulated in terms of employment. It is necessary to take over what was done in Croatia, where each guide can have several ways to be a taxpayer. Until a few years ago, we did not have a tax number under which guides are registered. When we called, after our insistence that someone be interested in our profession, they told us this is the best law that has been made. So, they invented a law, in addition to what exists in Croatia where it has proven to be effective. We don't need to invent hot water. Examples works, some work for a few months, some for seven, and in order to be registered they have to pay for the whole year, not for the period they work, as it is regulated in Croatia. That's why we ask that the Croatian law be copied, because now we have a problem that percent of guides are not registered as far as taxes are concerned".

Perčobić states that the work of tourist guides is one of the most beautiful, that it gets into the blood, and points out that it is necessary to create the best possible conditions for tourist ambassadors as soon as possible, in order to present Montenegro in the best possible way to thousands of tourists.

We are defiling ourselves

Perčobić states that garbage is one of the biggest problems in Montenegro:

"Guests see it, no matter how much we talk about Montenegro as a beautiful, wild beauty, ecological destination, when they see piles of garbage along the road, in national parks, they make fun of us. No matter how proud we are of the beauty of Montenegro, when we come across landfills with the streets, on the picnic grounds... we are ashamed of ourselves. We don't know how to explain that in the 21st century this is the culture of our citizens".

He specifies that there are numerous critical points - the road from Podgorica to Tuzi, the landfill near Mojkovac, even along the Tara River, Europe's Susa.

"When we come across it, we turn our heads to the other side. You have roads that are not used, like the one over Paštrovska Gora, where you have a horror of garbage. You have garbage in national parks. Yesterday I had a ride on Lake Skadar, left and right along bags, garbage can be seen in the bushes... We tell the guest about the national park, you have all this beauty, greenery and then you come across garbage. We are really dirtying our face, we don't even realize how much".

He pointed out that the garbage problem should be solved urgently, from the introduction of a strict penal policy to the education of children and youth to raise environmental awareness and environmental protection.