World Federation of Tourist Guides Associations
68th Members’ Circular: June 2011

1985-2010:
25 Years Guiding World Heritage and Culture

WFTGA 15th Convention: Macau China: Cultural Unlimited
Delegates Meeting: Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th January 2013
Convention: Sunday 13th January to Friday 18th January 2013
For information see www.wftga.org
Full details coming soon!!

Jane Orde Scholarship
Application forms for the Jane Orde Scholarship for Macau are attached and must be returned to info@wftga.org by September 30th 2012

WFTGA Website; Facebook & Twitter
The new look website at www.wftga.org is constantly updated with news so keep checking on a regular basis. More than 350 individual tourist guides and associations are now linked to the world federation of tourist guides associations Facebook page – log in and join in the chat!!
Area Representative/Members’ News
Area Representatives
We have now appointed new Area Representatives who cover most of the world! For full details and to find your nearest Area Representative please go to www.wftga.org They are there to help you!!

Brazil
Area Representative Tamara Levinson took part in the Congress of Guides of Argentina which was hosted by Aguitba in Buenos Aires. She met Jose Luis Acosta from Misiones (new WFTGA members) and got to meet many people from all over Argentina. At the closing ceremony of the Congress she was granted a few minutes for a short speech. After which she was approached by representatives from Mendoza and Ushuaia who were interested in more information re WFTGA

Peru
Patricia Oviedo Vela President of members ASGUIPA attended the Peru Tourist Guides National Conference and gave a message from WFTGA EXBO
Ukraine
We are delighted to welcome another new Individual Member: Kateryna Zhylova from the Crimea

EXBO News
President Rosalind Newlands attended the NGO Committee Meeting of UNESCO in Paris France in May.
Vice President Felicitas Wressnig attended the IMEX Conference in Frankfurt in June.
President Rosalind Newlands and EXBO Member Govind Agrawal will visit Macau in August to conduct the inspection for the Convention in January 2013.
President Rosalind Newlands has been invited to speak at the Larnaka 21 Embracing the Futures Conference in Cyprus in July 2011
President Rosalind Newlands has been invited to speak at the Singapore Tourist Guides Conference in August 2011 – she will conduct a seminar entitled Challenges for Tourist Guides in the 21st Century

President Rosalind Newlands attended meetings of the John Smith Memorial Trust in Edinburgh and Secretary Patricia Blain gave a complimentary tour to the 2011 Fellows from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kyrgizstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. The Trust assists WFTGA with contacts in these countries.
Guidelines Internetio@l
Our latest edition will be available by the end of June and will be on the website and also circulated to all members. Thank you to our editor, Tina Engstrom (UK) and also to EXBO Member Esther Banike who help with the proof reading as well as of course all those who contributed to the latest edition. Tina and her team would like all contributions for the next edition by 1st October 2011. Please send as soon as possible to WFTGAguidelines@gmail.com
Jane Orde Worldwide Guiding Survey
EXBO member Govind Agrawal is continuously updating the new edition launched in Tallinn. It can be found on www.wftga.org but please continue to send updates to Govind at govindagl@rediffmail.com

Training News
Training Committee
Wilja Siebe was appointed Head of Training in Tallinn and now leads the Training Committee. Other members are: Vice President Felicitas Wressnig, Secretary Patricia Blain, Past President and International Lead Trainer Titina Loizidou, EXBO Member Esther Banike. The Training Division consists of the Training Committee, WFTGA International Lead Trainers and WFTGA International Trainers. The Training Division met in Tallinn and working groups are being set up to revise WFTGA Policies and Procedures and Training Materials. In the past few months we have received an unprecedented number of requests for future WFTGA Training and we expect to deliver training in many countries in the next few months. We have already delivered training this year in Armenia, Georgia and India – often at very short notice and I would like to thank our trainers who respond so quickly and professionally to all our requests.
South Caucuses Project
Vice President Felicitas Wressnig represented WFTGA at the first South Caucuses Guide Conference in Batumi Georgia in December 2010, which was attended by representatives from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. As a result we have begun a cooperation which is resulting in WFTGA training being delivered for tourist guides in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The Training in Armenia was delivered by Felicitas Wressnig with Rita Nawoyan, Houri Nazaretian and Naira Sukiasyan plus National Trainer Ruzanna Kachyan. Because of visa difficulties a HOT course planned for Azerbaijan in June had to be switched to Georgia and led by Felicitas Wressnig.

India
UNWTO approached WFTGA in May to assist with the first tourist guide training in Amritsar in the Punjab in India. International Lead Trainer Mary Kemp Clarke spent 3 weeks there in June giving practical tourist guide training to WFTGA standards.
WFTGA International Training Centre; University of Cyprus 2012
The next Train the Trainer and International Train the Trainer courses will be held in Cyprus in May/June 2012. For further information please contact Wilja Siebe at wilja_siebe@planet.nl
OurExplorer/Viator
The website and booking system has been revamped – for more information go to http://tourguides.viator.com.

Rosalind Newlands
WFTGA President