As the tourism season brings back crowds to historical and tourist destinations, a parallel ecosystem of unlicensed tour guides operating without training or licence is thriving in the state.
From Dodda Ganapathi temple to Bengaluru fort, unverified, half-baked information is being conveyed to tourists, licensed guides in the city say.
S Pradeep, a licensed tour guide for over 30 years, said: "There are only four or five licensed guides in Bengaluru. Others purchase entry ticket to the monument, go inside the place and pressure tourists in taking a guided tour by them. I have also heard what information these people give. Most of it is hardly accurate".
No maps or direction boards on trails, complain trekkers"Hampi has over 160 licensed guides. Because of an untoward incident last year, the number of tourists has reduced there. Only foreign tourists prefer guides. Indians do not prefer guides. Other districts like Bidar or Kalaburagi have no licensed guides at all," he added.
K R Phaneesh, another licensed tourist guide, said: "The whole tourist experience is ruined because of this. The government has not done anything to control the unlicensed guides. Mysuru has a number of guides, especially in the palace. They have decided to not let anyone else come in and successfully prevented the invasion of unlicensed guides".
The recent emergence of a few online apps and websites have added to the problem.
Naveen Kumar T N, a licensed guide in Bengaluru, said: "A lot of these apps bring their own people. We do not know what they tell the tourists. People who have no knowledge of concepts like history, architecture or archaeology have become self-proclaimed guides. If any untoward incidents happen, they cannot even be held accountable because nobody knows who they are".
Certification process
Explaining the selection procedure for a state-certified guide, Prema N, a certified guide for Bengaluru, said: "When applications are called for training, one has to apply for it. Once selected, the applicant has to attend training sessions for three months. After that, there are written exams and viva voce. One becomes a certified guide after passing them. The candidate must have completed class 12 for a district licence and undergraduate degree for state-level licence".