The Costa Concordia, Costa Cruises’ flagship, has hosted the first edition of “Cruise Guide Training”, a new training course for cruise ship tourist guides organized by the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations, in conjunction with the training specialist Progress International.
The course is aimed at offering specialized training for tourist guides working on shore excursions for cruise Guests. Given the fact that the cruise industry is the fastest growing tourism sector and that shore excursions are a highlight of the cruise experience – Costa Cruises alone sold over 2 million excursions in 2007 – the role of cruise guide needs more intensive training to satisfy cruisers’ expectations.
The course lasted about 30 hours, and included theory lessons taught by the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations and Progress International trainers, as well as direct hands-on experience of the main activities and services for shore excursions both on board the ship and at the Savona Palacrociere.
The Costa Concordia departed from Civitavecchia on January 27 on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise calling at Savona (Italy), Olympia (Greece), Izmir (Turkey), Athens (Greece) and Rhodes (Greece). On February 3 the ship arrived at Limassol (Cyprus), where the WFTGA Cruise Training participants disembarked to attend the second part of the course, which is currently taking place in Limassol from February 4 to 6. Upon completion, the trainees who took part in the course will receive a certificate and pin from the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations to add to their own qualifications.
