Member Article

Blue Badges for NE guides

The services of expert North East tour guides will be available to more visitors than ever before due to the creation of a new training course launching this week. The new Area Tourism Partnerships around the region have come together with One NorthEast to provide bursaries to a number of students undertaking the new professional North East Blue Badge Guide course.

The Blue Badge is owned and awarded by the accreditation body, the Institute of Tourist Guiding (ITG), and the new course is being delivered in collaboration with Newcastle College with advice and training input from ITG qualified tutors. It is the first time the course has been offered in the North East for 18 years.

Blue Badge status is the highest qualification a guide can achieve and this new one year course will help students gain a thorough knowledge of attractions and places of interest throughout North East England and also teach practical guiding skills.

Course Director, Mark Aspel, said: “The creation of this course presents us with a fantastic opportunity to gain some highly qualified new guides to serve the region. Currently we have only a very few trained blue badge guides so this course will go someway to addressing that balance.”

Andrew Dixon, Executive Director of Tourism Tyne & Wear, the new Area Tourism Partnership representing NewcastleGateshead, Sunderland, North Tyneside and South Tyneside said: “The importance cannot be underestimated. It brings valuable economic investment, a demand for new hotel developments and the creation of new career opportunities. “By investing in training in this sector we ensure that our tourism offering is delivered to the highest professional standards, this is what visitors expect and can be the key to ensuring they keep coming back.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .