“We’re starting the new season with cautious optimism, the mood is positive,” says Silvia Mayr-Pranzeneder from the Linzer Austria Guides. In addition to many visitors, Mayr-Pranzeneder would also be happy to meet new colleagues. With the corona crisis, some have reoriented themselves, others have started their well-deserved retirement. Tourist guides who speak English, French or Italian are particularly in demand in Linz.
Looking for “offspring”.
Industry representative Martin Luger even speaks of a “lack of skilled workers” among tourist guides. Many of the colleagues are already well booked for the summer. He fears bottlenecks in tourist hotspots such as Linz, Wels or Steyr.
Nevertheless, his expectations for the new season are good, even if, according to Luger’s assessment, this will not match pre-corona levels. “You can tell that people want to continue and look at something again.” This year it should again be possible “to make a living from your work as a tourist guide without state aid”.
The Upper Austria-wide tourist guide action day on April 30 aims to awaken enthusiasm for the tourist guide profession and the one-year training course that is required for it. During the campaign, various guided tours are offered across the federal state. There, visitors can see for themselves that “our guides know stories that can’t be found on Wikipedia,” as Luger puts it.
A lot is happening in Linz even before the day of action, in addition to the classic “evening walk”, among other things, themed tours are already being offered again. Interested parties can research Linz’s women’s history or rediscover the Südbahnhofmarkt. And if you want, you can also explore Linz at a run on a sporty guided tour.
Source: Nachrichten
