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For new tour guide graduates Mona Hussein and Samer Mohamed, providing travellers the right information about Qatar’s history and rich heritage is an exciting and promising career. |
“Yes, I really want to be a tour guide,” said Mohamed, a Qatari who joined 14 other trainees at the graduation ceremony of Qatar Tourism Authority’s (QTA) “Tour Guide License Programme” yesterday at the Doha Exhibition Centre.
Expected to be deployed in three key gateway areas, he said the guides will be working hand in hand to promote Qatar and the Gulf Area to tourists.
Mohamed wants to apply what he has learned from the course - from receiving the people to helping find ways to increase the number of tourists in Qatar.
He was also excited to meet tourists, provide them with enough information about his homeland and lead them to Qatar’s tourist destinations
especially heritage sites.
Mohamed was thankful to be part of the six-week training at Stenden University-Qatar for enhancing his communication skills and had given him the motivation to he described as a
noble profession.
“But we also need to know what they are interested of so we can provide them the right
service,” he said.
He noted that some tourists like to do shopping in malls while others want to go to places such as the beach. Some people prefer historical and heritage sites and museums.
Like Mohamed, Hussein also lauded the programme for giving her the opportunity to work soon for QTA and further improve her English proficiency.
“We learned more about places in Qatar, the population and the things that run around here,” she said. “We have gone into an English course and it was very strong and capable.”
The graduates went through a tour guiding course which included field trips, lectures and practical trainings. Considered as a full course, they report on a daily basis from 8am to 1pm.
“We had teachers who have very high capabilities to keep us going,” she said.
The 15 candidates will immediately start their careers in the tourism and promotions
with QTA.
At the graduation ceremony, QTA chairman Issa bin Mohammed al-Mohannadi had welcomed the trainees as new
members of QTA.
“We are very proud of our first-ever graduating tour guides. This is a great milestone for QTA and the Human Resources department. It underscores our commitment to ensuring that we have the best qualified
employees,” he added.
