Tourist guide lecturers to hold awareness walk over several demands

The Sri Lanka Institute of Tourist Guide Lecturers (SLINTGL) will hold an "Awareness Walk" tomorrow (21) to coincide with International Tourist Guide Day which falls tomorrow. 

The walk is aimed at creating awareness on several pressing issues affecting tourist guides amd challenges facing the tourism industry, said SLINTGL President Dr Mahesh Priyadarshana. 

Tomorrow's awareness walk will commence from opposite the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) building at Colombo 3 and will proceed to Galle Face Green along the Galle Road. SLINTGL representatives will then hand over a petition containing their grievances to the Presidential Secretariat.

 Dr Priyadarshana said the main issue facing SLINTGL is over the minimum wage for their members. "The current minimum wage is Rs 2500 per day. This is unsustainable. We had earlier proposed a minimum daily wage of USD 50 but the SLTDA, which is the regulatory body, said this would be difficult and proposed a minimum daily wage of USD 35. However, the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO), which represents inbound tour companies, has not cooperated to ensure our guides are paid even this amount," he claimed. 

Some smaller tour operators are however, independently paying tourist guide lecturers more than the Rs 2500 daily wage they are getting now. As such, the SLINTGL President questioned why the bigger companies cannot follow suit. 

He also said they will raise other issues such as the using of unlicensed and unqualified tour guides by some companies, along with difficulties tourist guide lecturers are undergoing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.