INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM, TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY LAW regarding the practical feasibility of a national-level exam and its geographical accessibility throughout Italy, especially if the examination venue is in-person and centralized in a single city42. Other criticisms have been raised regarding the requirement of a three-year degree without specifying or limiting it to a particular degree class. In response, it should be noted that, considering the broad range of activities introduced as the subject of the profession, as indicated in Article 2, this makes various degree classes compatible, if not necessary, although not all of them are necessarily preparatory for the profession. The qualification examination will, however, ensure the competencies of the guides, regardless of how they have been acquired. Concerning the criticism regarding the knowledge of at least two languages, the elevation of the level of professionalism must be associated with linguistic proficiency, which is essential for offering a quality service and ensuring competitiveness. A tourist guide who does not speak at least one or more languages, in addition to their mother tongue, is certainly not competitive in a country with a high income of foreign tourists like Italy. Once the qualification has been obtained, Article 5 provides for the establishment of a national list of tourist guides, to which they can register43: those qualified according to the new procedures, foreigners who have obtained recognition of their qualification obtained abroad, according to the procedure provided for in article 6 of the law itself, and those who at the time of the entry into force of law 190/23 were already in possession of the qualification for the profession of tourist guide, who will have a period of 6 months from the entry into force of the law to be able to regularize their positions, not in terms of knowledge and skills, but with regards, for example, to stipulation of the insurance contract, which until now has not been required by all regional laws. The innovation is that the national list will be divided into specific sections based on the specializations obtained and the origin of the guides. Thus, foreign guides qualified under the procedure of Article 7 will have to register in a specific section of the national list (Article 7, paragraph 8), different from that of internal guides. Internal guides, in turn, can register in special sections of the list. If they participate in theoretical and practical courses authorized by the Ministry of Tourism, they can acquire, under certain conditions, additional thematic and/or territorial specializations (including accessible and inclusive tourism), which can be cumulated, and thus register in special sections of the list. 42 See Federagit Confesercenti. 43 The law refers to a list of professionals and not to a register. On profession orders see M. Bonanni, The useless order? Professional orders in Italy (L’ordine inutile? Gli ordini professionali in Italia), Milano, 1998.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTE4NzM5Nw==