Tour Guide

Goal of the Study Programme:

To train all-rounded, theoretically educated, professionally competent specialists that are in great demand on the labour market - tourist guides who will be ready to accept responsibilities set by the profession standard and be eligible to be awarded the certificate required by the Tourism Law.

What skills and habits will the study programme develop? The graduates will be able:

• to draw up excursion and travel routes and give and interpret information, guide excursions and trips both in one's mother tongue and in foreign languages;
• to evaluate and compare implementation possibilities of different travel routes, their strengths and weaknesses;
• to explain mutual interconnection of different processes and causal regularities, to select objective primary sources of information;
• identify tourist' needs and motivation in different situations, to be able to organise group guiding indifferent circumstances, to choose the most relevant working methods, to improvise freely;
• to plan and do scientific research in the tourism industry.

Advantages of the Study Programme:

• Higher professional tourist guide education providing high competitiveness on the tourism market in Latvia.
• It gives understanding in particularities and development trends of the tourism industry, and the basics of the tourist guide work methodology.
• It facilitates theoretical and practical acquisition of communication skills.
• It provides internship in tourist guide's professional activity.
• On completion of the study programme it guarantees receiving a document certifying Tourist Guide's competence in accordance with the Tourism Law and Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Study Programme Contents:

Internships:

Internships are planned starting from year II - both in the form of study trips and in practical work in tourism companies and organisations. Internship placement is provided by the university, or a student may find a company for the internship.

Career, opportunities on the labour market:

Graduates of the study programme will be able to successfully work as tourist guides, to plan, to guide excursions and trips, to act as tourist group guides or take other positions related to this in tourism industry.