A closing event of a six-month training course for cultural heritage guides was held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) on October 3. TSU Rector George Sharvashidze, Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia, Deputy Prime Minister Tea Tsulukiani, as well as the program managers and participants of the project attended the event.
 

“With the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth, Tbilisi State University trained 150 guides. This is the first step and I hope that a lot of such projects will be implemented in the future. It is necessary to introduce professional standards in the direction, which is very relevant. Along with increasing tourism, we should not forget the quality. It is good that we offer modern knowledge to those specialists who will serve the tourism sector. I congratulate everyone who received certificates and wish them success in their professional activities,” Rector George Sharvashidze said.
 

Minister of Culture and Sport of Georgia, Tea Tsulukiani spoke about the importance of the project and its results: “Last year, together with Tbilisi State University, we laid the foundation for the most important process. This involves caring for the guides who provide services to tourists. Since it is important for us to protect our history, national identity and cultural heritage, guides participate in this protection process. We have heard many times that there are guides who lack proper knowledge and provide wrong information to tourists. Last year, TSU developed a training module with our financial support, and within the framework of this module, this year we financed the training and re-training of up to 150 guides or those willing to become guides. Today we awarded the best guides of the first category. I hope that if the university is willing, we will continue this project.”
 

150 citizens willing to become guides were selected from more than 500 applicants for the project; 50 of them are employees of different museums of Georgia. At the request of the participants of the training course, the training program was conducted in a hybrid mode. Citizens living in the regions had an opportunity to attend the course online. The project participants underwent an intensive theoretical and practical training course. The training course was led by TSU professors. Field trips were conducted in Tbilisi and different regions of Georgia. Students of the program visited museums, wine cellars, cultural heritage monuments and attended master classes held on the ground. After completing the program, 50 participants expressed their desire to take an exam, 17 of whom were granted the status of highly qualified guide, and 133 - the status of assistant guide.
 

“Tourists arriving in Georgia are interested in many things. We, the guides, are the representatives of our country and it is essential to provide them with correct, accurate, facts-based, and literature-based information. I welcome this project, which should be continued, because it is very important for each guide to raise their qualifications and acquire necessary knowledge and skills,” Ana Khabazi, one of the successful participants of the project, noted.
 

“I think the project has paid off. Very successful personnel were involved in the training. In addition, they had an opportunity to hold lectures throughout Georgia. We included cultural monuments in the program that are less active in terms of tourism, and our goal is to make such places more popular so that Georgia has an opportunity to position itself worldwide,” Salome Chanturidze, head of the TSU Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Center, said.
 

The project “Training of guides employed in the field of culture according to the module developed in 2021 with the support of the Ministry of Culture” was ongoing and included theoretical and practical training courses of international standards. The curriculum involved a combination of all the key elements of practical skills and communication techniques - personalized learning approaches, strategic use of critical thinking, educational resources, flexible teaching, and other innovative learning methods. After completing the course, the guides will be able to provide tourists with in-depth information about the historical and cultural monuments and tourist places of Georgia, present the country in an interesting way, without distorting the facts.