Official Tourist Guides are trained personnel duly authorised by the competent authorities for the different places where they work. They are expected to provide and be paid for the following kinds of services on a regular basis: information, support, guidance and/or assistance, cultural, architectural, artistic, historical, geographical and natural (ecological) to those visiting historical and cultural monuments and natural areas of the national heritage.
The work of a Tourist Guide in the Balearic Islands is regulated in Chapter X, information, guidance and tour assistance companies: Tourist Guides from the Decree 20/2015.
DEFINITION
The profession of a tourist guide is performed by trained personnel on a regular and paid basis. It consists of providing information and interpretation services regarding historical and natural heritage, assets of cultural interest, catalogued assets and other tourist resources in the Balearic Islands to tourists and visitors in the two official languages of the Balearic Islands, as well as any other foreign language, which must also be accredited.
(Source: Chapter X, Article 136.2, Decree 20/2015)
AUTHORISATION
To be a Balearic Islands Tour Guide, authorisation granted by the competent tourism administration in tourism management for each island is needed, under the terms provided in this chapter. This allows the activity to be performed in the Balearic Islands, any Autonomous Community in Spain and any member state of the European Union under the terms provided in the appropriate local or national legislation.
(Source: Chapter X, Article 137.1, Decree 20/2015)
SCOPE OF AUTHORISATION
These are the activities for which a tour guide is required to conduct visits and excursions to provide information and interpretation services for groups of tourists and visitors to cultural assets and those catalogued as being of historical, artistic and cultural interest in the Balearic Islands; whether museums, caves, archaeological sites, churches, monasteries, shrines, castles, towns or other locations of this nature; as well as national and natural parks, landscapes, natural reserves and monuments, as declared in accordance with Law 5/2005, May 26, for the conservation of environmentally important areas.
(Source: Chapter X, Article 136.3, Decree 20/2015)
OBTAINING AUTHORISATION
Competent island tourism administrations must set tests for the qualification of Official Guide to the Balearic Islands, regarding particular topics to be developed with respect to the blocks of natural and cultural heritage in the Balearic Islands. Knowledge of English, at least one other foreign language and the official languages in the Balearic Islands are also tested.
The general requirements for authorisation are:
- Having Spanish nationality or that of any member state of the European Union or signatory to the European Economic Area Agreement, being a foreign citizen resident in Spain with the recognised right to engage in gainful employment or others in accordance with current regulations.
- Being an adult.
- Having any of the following qualifications: vocational training higher level training cycle; university diploma or degree; master’s degree, a degree or any other approved equivalent. Be in possession of a professional certificate or other accreditation of the skills required to be a Guide for tourists and visitors, via the evaluation and accreditation of the skills acquired through work experience or other non-formal training methods, under the terms contained in the Organic Law 5/2002, June 19, Vocational Training and Qualifications, and the Royal Decree 1224/2009, July 17.
- Accreditation of knowledge of English and at least one other foreign language under the terms established in this chapter.
- Certification of knowledge of Catalan and Castilian Spanish under the terms established in this chapter.
- Knowledge of the natural and cultural heritage of the Balearic Islands, as provided for in this chapter.
(Source: Chapter X, Articles 137.2 and 137.4 of Decree 20/2015)
