Greek Tourism Ministry: Tour Guide Profession To Open

The tour guide profession in Greece will soon be liberalized in accordance to Greece’s European obligations, Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni announced today, 26 March, following a meeting with German Federal Deputy Labor Minister Hans-Joachim Fuchtel on tourism education issues. The tour guide profession in Greece is considered one of the country’s so-called “closed professions.” 

Mrs. Kefalogianni told the media that the curriculum of tour guide schools in Greece is currently under revision and the duration of studies will be three semesters.

She also referred to a joint ministerial decision between the Tourism and Education Ministries in regards to the launch of fast learning programs for the tour guide profession especially for history and archaeology graduates. “These programs will begin immediately,” she said.

Upgrade in Greek tourism education coming up

Among the tourism ministry’s top priorities is to upgrade the curriculum of the country’s higher tourism education and secondary and post-secondary tourism education.

“We will make every effort for the tourism schools to offer high quality education and training for students that intend to pursue a career in the hospitality industry,” she said.

In this context, the tourism minister said the ministry would implement a continuing vocational training program for workers (seasonal workers, self-employed and entrepreneurs) engaged in enterprises of the Greek tourism sector.

The program, aimed to train 2,875 beneficiaries, has a total budget of 4.5 million euros and is funded by the NSRF through the European Social Fund.