CONNECT
Are we friends on social media, yet? Use the buttons below to connect with us!
A group of professional tour guides plan to mobilize protests across Cusco on Friday October 18. The organized group continues to show their opposition to a law, Decreto Supremo 04-2019, that would allow people to work as tour guides without any professional training. The protests will take place at various touristic sites across Cusco, including Machu Picchu.
A statement released by the College for Tourism Professionals requests that an exception to the law be made for the department of Cusco, or for the law to be repealed altogether.
Niel Castro, the Dean of Cusco’s College for Tourism Professionals, argues that allowing non-professional tour guides creates greater possibility for negative precedent for tour guide services in general. This would damage the reputation of one of the principal economic activities in the country, he argues.
The law does not currently apply to Cusco since Mincetur has assigned its application to Cusco’s Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism. The director, Guido Quiñones, said that his jurisdiction will not apply the law, which he calls an attack on tourists and visitors.
Daniel Maraví, director of development policies at Mincetur, also affirms that this law will no apply to Cusco, but instead is aimed at other regions of the country that do not have high volume of tour guides. The law would allow the formalization of those who practice it but are not professionally trained. He states that in regions like Huanuco there are no accredited guides, in comparison to the 4,600 guides that are accredited in Cusco.
Source: Diario Correo
Cover Photo: Andina.pe