The Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) has awarded licences to only 240
guides out of 1 652 applications. The shock announcement was made late last week when the BQA assessment
officer, Emmanuel Chimbombi, told this to the HATAB annual conference in Kasane
after many complaints from tour guides about the new grading system introduced
by BQA.
The conference took place at the art of the traditional holiday season which
attracts thousands of foreign tourists keen to experience the Botswana bush and
wildlife. He admitted that guides had labelled the system as unreasonable and an
obstacle to their profession. Some of the affected guides had been working in
the Botswana bush for more than 20 years. Some of the new conditions included swimming and whether or not a guide had
confronted wild animals.
A professional tour guide, Grant Nel, had complained at the conference about
the criteria used for assessing them and questioned the credibility of the
assessors. “The problem is that we are being assessed by people who do not know anything
about the industry. They are not qualified to assess us hence their competency
is questionable,” he said.
Another guide, who also owns Dreams Safaris, Mist Setaung, said one of the
conditions set by the BQA is an itinerary for safaris but it did not make sense
as guides were never involved in planning itineraries. “Itineraries do not
involve guides. They simply implement what is already written on the itinerary
provided,” he argued.
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