World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations 2015 Prague

Transcrição

WFTGA - World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations
[email protected]
Registered Office: Vienna, Austria
www.wftga.org
WFTGA is an NGO in Operational Relations with UNESCO – Affiliate Member of UNWTO
World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations
2015 Prague Convention
General Assembly Meeting Minutes - Sunday, 25 January, 2015
Ambassador Hotel, Prague, Czech Republic
Present at the Tables: WFTGA Executive Board and Delegates from 28 countries (late
arrival of Delegate from Turkey brought total to 29 later in the meeting) Delegate list appended
Proxies Introduced during meeting: Three (3)
President Felicitas Wressnig called the meeting to order at 9:05 A.M. with a warm
greeting to all, thanking the Host, reminding of the 30 years existence of WFTGA.
A moment of silence was observed in remembrance of people WFTGA recently lost over
the last two years.
Emergency evacuation and housekeeping instructions were made, then the President
explained that each country had one vote, no matter the number of Delegates or
associations represented by a country.
She pointed out that some individuals didn't have a personal copy of the Agenda and
Delegates should share because no suitable printer for mass production was available.
INTRODUCTIONS AND PROXIES
Apologies for the absence of Spain, India and Indonesia were forwarded and it was
announced that some Delegates would arrive late due to weather and delayed flights.
Three (3) absent member-countries had submitted PROXIES:
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Singapore held Proxy for Indonesia
Canada for India
Austria for Spain
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An introduction of Delegates followed:
Armenia
Albania (arrival 9:30 A.M.)
Australia
Austria
Canada
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Germany
UK (England, Scotland)
Greece
Iran
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Netherlands
Peru
Philippines
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
Slovakia
South Africa
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey (arrival 11:45 A.M.)
USA
(Delegate Attendee List appended)
Delegates gave brief reports of local association activities and the state of tour-guiding
in their country. The general complaint was illegal guiding and lack of enforcement in
regulated countries. Too many Tour Operators focus on finances and insist that Tour
Managers conduct tours wherever they travel. Delegates were encouraged to read
written reports submitted in advance by some members, which had been placed on a
side table.
The six members of 2013-2015 Executive Board then introduced themselves: Area
Representative Coordinator Maria Aristidou, Secretary Esther Banike, Vice President and
Head of Training Wilja Siebe, Treasurer Pat Blain, Roger Rajah, and President Felicitas
Wressnig.
The President spoke of ExBo's accomplishments and challenges. Highlights: Silk Road,
publications, training, Guideapedia, website, travels, communications, sponsorships.
scholarships. (Further details in the attached 2013-2015 President's Report)
Eight scholarships were planned for the 2015 convention, more than any other time.
However, only four were able to attend: Barbados, Philippines, Ukraine, Uruguay.
Visa issues, health, or insufficient supporting funds for travel prevented the other four from
attending.
PARLIAMENTARIANS, ARBITRATORS, SCRUTINEERS
Regina Macho (Austria) was selected as Head PARLIAMENTARIAN, with Assistant
Parliamentarians Ruby Roy (Canada) and Moataz Abdel Megeed (Egypt).
An ARBITRATION COMMITTEE of three (3) to settle conflicts included Alushca Ritchie
(South Africa), Smaro Touloupa (Greece), Ardiola Alikaj (Albania).
SCRUTINEERS to examine WFTGA's financial records were selected: Marian Bilacic
(Slovakia), Aija Tamsone (Latvia), Ardiola Alikaj (Albania).
Later, the UK brought up a point of order, declaring that confirmation of the above
required a "show of hands". The following action took place to validate the
Parliamentarians, Arbitration Committee, and Scrutineers:
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Revote for Parliamentarians as named above:
Votes in favor: 28
Proxies: 3
Total votes: 31
Revote for Arbitrators as named above:
Votes in favor: 28
Proxies: 3
Total votes: 31
Revote for Scrutineers as named above:
Votes in favor: 26
Proxies: 3
Abstentions: 2
Total votes: 31
REVIEW OF MACAU CONVENTION MINUTES (2013)
Action Items from the Macau Convention Minutes were reviewed:
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Five Member Associations were provided with letters of support from ExBo.
Reminder...we need actual names and addresses to whom the letters should be
sent, as well as a description of the issue.
Only four new Cultour Card partners were added in the last two years. The
president renewed the appeal for more effort with the Cultour Card program.
The Reference Handbook copyright issue required lawyer involvement but enabled
us to secure some compromises from the copyright offender.
Spelling corrected for name on Macau Minutes page 10, Item 26 (Mohamed Ghareeb).
Update 2017 Convention Bidding Document - and subsequent conventions.
There was a discussion about whether Delegates who were not present in Macau may
take a vote on minutes now. After substantial discussion and checking the Constitution,
it was clear that YES: the Delegates now present are voting for accepting the Minutes,
not for changing of Minutes!
Motion was made by Mary Kemp Clarke (UK) and seconded by Joe Steinbock (USA) to
approve the Minutes from Macau:
Votes in favor: 27
Proxies: 0
Abstentions: 4
Against: 0
ACTION ITEM: Update Convention Bidding Document for 2017. DONE
TREASURER REPORT
Treasurer Pat Blain explained the reasons for changing banks and adding Maria Aristidou
as ExBo signature on WFTGA accounts. Cyprus account will be closed; banking will be
with Raiffeisenlandesbank headquartered in Austria. Pay Pal has acquired Skrill, the
internet payment platform.
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GENERAL ASSEMBLY ATTENDANCE POLICY
The question was raised, "Why isn’t Macau being seated at this convention?"
The president explained that there were several reasons the new Macau association did
not qualify for Full Membership and seating as Delegates at the General Assembly (GA),
reasons that were not known to ExBo until Macau's attendees were en route. Mainly,
they applied and were accepted for WFTGA membership as Macau, but it was later
learned that they accept cross-borders members (Hong Kong, China, Macau, etc.). They
registered for Prague as China, not Macau; China is not a WFTGA member. WFTGA
received no correct support letter for Delegate from their association.
Discussion followed about circumstances that allow observers at the GA. No observers
except Past Presidents are allowed at the GA. Affiliate Members or Trainers can only
observe when the General Assembly is dealing with a specific issue concerning them and
decides to invite them.
TRAINING REPORT
Head of Training Wilja Siebe gave a breakdown of the WFTGA Training Division.
Although the Treasurer sends invoices and reminders, some Trainers have not paid their
dues for several years. If Delegates know of any Trainers who didn't receive their
invoice, let the Treasurer know so it can be resent.
Smaro Touloupa (Greece) expressed that some Trainers feel disconnected and don't
believe they get the backup from WFTGA that they need and expect. Other comments:
our contact data base needs improvement, our accounts are administered in a confusing
manner, and WFTGA sometimes appears to be more interested in making money than
raising standards.
Mary Kemp Clarke (UK) stated that she has researched training programs established by
other countries. Scotland meets and exceeds WFTGA standards but sought their
accreditation, wanting to establish the additional standard.
In response to Roza Atanesyan's (Armenia) question about WFTGA's policy/vision to
bring back “lost” trainers, Head of Training Wilja Siebe answered that the Training
Committee will now use personal contact rather than just send invoices or mass emails.
Ellen Bradley (Australia) inquired how WFTGA accreditation for Australia's training
program could be arranged. Wilja Siebe's answer: To become accredited by WFTGA,
Australia's course material must be examined by qualified WFTGA Trainers and ExBo to
determine if it meets WFTGA standards. A fee is asked for this service. Ellen replied that
Australian authorities would insist on first examining WFTGA's program to determine if it
met their standards.
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AREA REPRESENTATIVE REPORT
Area Representative Coordinator Maria Aristidou (Cyprus) explained the duties of WFTGA
Area Representatives (ARs) and referred Delegates to her "roundup report" displayed on
the side table with other reports.
ARs are WFTGA Ambassadors - they connect with people in their assigned areas and
report to the AR Coordinator and ExBo. Their Mission is to spread awareness of WFTGA
and increase membership. ARs can make presentations about WFTGA at tourism trade
shows and conventions.
At this point the meeting adjourned for lunch.
The General Assembly reconvened at 2:00 P.M. and the first recording of proceedings
began.
Treasurer Pat Blain passed around a list for Delegates to mark how many Cultour Cards
they needed. Each Full Member could have up to 600 for no charge, but were asked not
to request more than they actually needed. A charge of 100 EU applied for an additional
600 cards.
Latecomers were introduced: Cenk Cengiz (Turkey), Gene Reyes (USA), Peter Stuhl
(Slovakia), Rune Lemon (Sweden). President Wressnig informed Delegates that
member reports for other countries would continue later.
GUIDEAPEDIA AND VERTICAL RESPONSE
WFTGA had introduced Guideapedia at the Macau Convention and the program launched
by Ros Newlands (UK) and Esther Banike (USA) soon afterwards. Ros presented a recap
of the system and some new features. Foremost, Members can now update their own
Member Profiles.
First step is to get an administrative password. A special Guideapedia email address will
be established, but [email protected] will be used until ExBo trains a new member to
manage Guideapedia. Every country Delegate will receive a copy of Ros' Power Point
presentation with Guideapedia instructions. (Presentation by RN attached)
Ros also informed Delegates of a new system titled "Keep Me Informed," also known as
Vertical Response (VR), embedded into the WFTGA Home Page. The system is currently
not activated, but when available, anyone can submit a request to receive emails from
the WFTGA Secretary. The system allows those with administrative authority to select
appropriate addresses for different types of emails.
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ACTION ITEM: Train new ExBo member for Guideapedia and assign special
Guideapedia email address to that person.
ACTION ITEM: Train new ExBo member for Vertical Response and activate the VR
section after assigning email address to that person.
ACTION ITEM: Send each member-country with Delegate at Prague a copy of Ros'
Guideapedia presentation.
ACTION ITEM: Remind members to write WFTGA Secretary and tell about new
members of their association and current email addresses.
Oral country-reports continued at this point.
Every country, and sometimes diverse associations within countries, have different
requirements. Some demand license, others certification. Some have age and training
requirements, others have no restrictions. Some have close ties to tourism authorities,
others have no connection. Memberships range from 50 members, to huge countrywide associations with 18,000 members. Pay rates follow a wide range.
Where regulated borders are falling, or where tourist guiding is not regulated,
professional guides may find success by calling attention to the benefits of hiring
qualified tourist guides. Use WFTGA mottos: We have liability insurance, we know best
and give factual information, we take care for your safety, versus the often dangerous
and irresponsible practices of unqualified guides.
Before closing the meeting, the president reminded all that 2015 is the 30th anniversary
of WFTGA. She has attended every WFTGA convention since the first one (in Israel)
except for two, Montréal, Canada and Dunblane, UK.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Esther Banike
WFTGA Secretary
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[email protected]
www.wftga.org
General Assembly Meeting Minutes - Monday, 26 January, 2015
Present at the Tables: WFTGA Executive Board and Delegates from 29 countries Delegate list appended
Proxies: Three (3)
After greeting the Assembly at 3:30 P.M., President Felicitas Wressnig introduced
observing Past Presidents Ros Newlands and Deborah Androus, then additional
Delegates Marina Sedlakova (Czech Republic) George Reichlmayr (Germany) and Maeve
Hamilton (UK), and new arrivals from Denmark, Canada and Portugal, before continuing
with the Agenda that had been introduced to Delegates on the previous day.
Delegates were reminded of their opportunity to sign up as candidates for the
2015-2017 Executive Board.
WFTGA MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Delegates were asked to relate their perceptions of WFTGA benefits, how they use the
benefits and their expectations of WFTGA.
Regarding communications, many Delegates agreed with Hermann Friedsam of Austria
who stressed that information from WFTGA should be simply stated so as to be
understood by those with varying language skills.
Holly Jensen (USA) suggested that differences in simple vocabulary exist even among
English-speaking people and pointed out how a "lift" is an "elevator" to some guides and
tourists. Is there a possibility for WFTGA to create "cheat sheets" to help guides with
these differences?
ACTION ITEM: Look into possibility of publishing an English-language list to aid guides
in usage of differing English terms.
VIATOR / TRIP ADVISOR, ANYGUIDE
Many guide-listing companies contact ExBo (and our members directly), offering their
website as a source to help us find work. Unfortunately, they often also accept
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unqualified people. In most cases their parent companies eventually charge a hefty
commission and members wondered if WFTGA is affiliated with any companies.
WFTGA has an agreement with Viator (recently acquired by Trip Advisor) and has been
persistently approached by AnyGuide. For several years Viator has endowed a
sponsorship for our conventions in return for providing a monitored guide-listing option
for our members. It would be unacceptable for ExBo to accept an agreement with a
second company while one exists with Viator. However, the Viator site has not been
properly managed since Trip Advisor took over.
As for AnyGuide, President Felicitas feels their management has not been honest in
proposals to ExBo, failing to declare a commission is taken. But our members are free
to decide for themselves as individual guides.
Though UK and other members currently have links with AnyGuide, they have no
experience with commission yet. Ruby Roy of Canada has been sorting through some of
the offers and found a few that might work. Her association report includes details and
is available from her by request.
A lengthy discussion followed about Viator/Trip Advisor and AnyGuide. Greece and UK's
complaints about Viator's inability to honor the only-qualified-guides agreement resulted
in Tina Engstrom's (UK) demand that WFTGA should no longer accept them as a
sponsor. President Felicitas explained how ExBo hoped new owner Trip Advisor needed
only a little more time to bring their Viator communications up to par. WFTGA will have
a chance to question Viator during their convention presentation on Tuesday. Tina
proposed that the decision whether to continue with Viator be delayed until after the
presentation.
ACTION ITEM: President check Viator for progress on member requests, removing
unqualified guides and improved communications with WFTGA Executive Board.
MEMBERSHIP QUALIFICATIONS
Individual Membership vs Full (Association) Membership
The President asked Delegates to consider whether WFTGA should accept Individual
Members in countries that have a WFTGA Full Member (Association Member).
Various Delegates presented their own country situations and they were so diverse,
some felt that the question could be decided only a case-by-case situation. However,
upon checking the WFTGA Constitution, it became clear that no Individual Members can
be accepted in countries where a Full Member exists.
Where additional associations seek to become Full Members in a country that already
has Full Member(s) of WFTGA, the opinion of the existing associations is sought.
Sometimes an existing Full Member could have an ulterior/political motivation for
blocking acceptance of another association. Several Delegates suggested a subcommittee should examine this complicated issue, and Mary Kemp Clark warned that
the WFTGA and the sub-committee should avoid getting into associations' internal
issues.
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The discussion turned to the Macau situation. Delegates for the Macau International
Chartered Tourist Guide Association (MICTGA), the new Macau association, were not
seated at this General Assembly. They accept members from cross-borders (multiple
areas, including our current Full Members Hong Kong and Macau) and this fact was not
included in their application. Therefore they do not qualify for Full Member. In fact, the
UN lists CHINA as the country for all the areas MICTGA intends to represent. However,
former countries like Hong Kong and Macau that are now Special Administrative Areas
(SAR) of China became WFTGA members before the areas were absorbed by China. If
WFTGA continues the practice of accepting countries only as listed by the UN, we will
lose a number of members.
The president closed the discussion after having dealt with the issue from various sides.
For the time being, we will stick to the constitution with no case-by-case decisions, and
a motion was presented to set up a subcommittee to study this complicated issue.
Mary Kemp Clark (UK) moved that....
....the next Executive Board assigns a Membership Subcommittee to discuss the issue of transborder and in-border memberships and present their suggestions to the General Assembly in 2017.
The motion was seconded by Linda Humphreys (Canada).
For: 25 + 3 Proxies
Abstention: 4
Total votes cast: 32
ACTION ITEM: Executive Board will set up a Membership Subcommittee to study
membership categories and qualifications. Secretary's note: A transcription of full
commentary from the General Assembly meeting will be forwarded to the subcommittee.
QUESTIONS TO BIDDERS FOR 2017 CONVENTION
Countries bidding for the 2017 convention had made their primary presentations to all
attendees at the Open Ceremony that morning, and each was now allowed 10 minutes
for one representative to answer questions put to them by Delegates. Denmark was
first on the stand, followed by Iran, then Singapore.
Questions covered such topics as processes for obtaining visas, whether the organising
teams would utilise professional help, hotel rates, what kind of lectures and educational
programs to expect, cultural aspects, pre- and post-convention tours and how they
could be arranged to include Delegates and how did the bidders expect the convention
to impact attendees and local guides.
The President adjourned the meeting at the conclusion of questions to Singapore,
around 6:00 P.M.
Esther Banike
WFTGA Secretary
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[email protected]
Registered Office: Vienna, Austria www.wftga.org
Plenary Session Minutes - Tuesday, 27 January, 2015
WFTGA Executive Board Present:
President Felicitas Wressnig
Vice President Wilja Siebe
Secretary Esther Banike
Treasurer Pat Blain
Executive Board: Maria Aristidou, Roger Rajah
Also Presiding: Convention Host Stanislav Voleman
President Felicitas Wressnig opened the session at 11:15 A.M. with a welcome message
to the guests and 398 registered attendees.
Her report of Executive Board activities from 2013-2015 is attached.
GUIDEAPEDIA, MEMBER PROFILES AND VERTICAL RESPONSE (VR)
Past Pres Rosalind Newlands of Scotland repeated the Guideapedia/Member
Profiles/website presentation she had made earlier to Delegates. Rosalind explained the
background of Guideapedia. In 2011, we employed Sam Cohen (a webmaster who had
set up the user-friendly Drupal system for WFTGA's website) to create Guideapedia and
also train Executive Board Members to work the back-side of our website. Members
were first introduced to Guideapedia and Member Profiles at the 2013 Macau convention.
Now we have a method for the public to find qualified/licensed guides - who are
members of WFTGA - through our website, by linking to the Members’ page. WFTGA
provides a link to Guideapedia right on the front page of our website.
What is Guideapedia? A service on the WFTGA website that allows our Full Members to
provide information about their association and city/country and a link directly to their
own website. This is a free service for our members only. Information for the original
listings was loaded on the Guideapedia site by webmaster Sam Cohen and came from a
survey done by WFTGA several years ago.
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All WFTGA members - Full, Individual and Affiliate Members - have a Member Profile on
the WFTGA website. Each Member can easily rework their Member Profile listing once
they have requested a password. Previously, an ExBo member had to do all the updates
but now our members can update their own Member Profiles and Guideapedia listings.
Some members have already put updated information on their Guideapedia sites but
most have not. Rosalind reminded that Secretary Esther Banike has sent several emails
with Guideapedia instructions to all Full Members, but few used it, so some simplification
was recently installed. Guideapedia instructions are available by request via email from
Esther Banike or Ros Newlands. It is important that the email address on a Member
Profile be current because the password is sent to that address. Contact Rosalind and
she will correct your Member Profile email address. Write to [email protected] to
contact Ros (or eventually the new Secretary and/or Guideapdia Administrator) if you
need help with Guideapedia.
ACTION ITEM: Set up [email protected] address and link to new Secretary and
new Guideapedia Administrator(s) mailboxes when trained. (Note: Alushca Ritchie later
elected to ExBo and assigned as Administrator.)
Attendees were urged to examine Scotland's Guideapedia. They added links to articles
and information about their training programs. Scotland's website has a booking service
and their Guideapedia is linked to their direct booking site and also to tourism
partners/city websites.
Verticle Response (VR) is an email system that allows a sender to choose specific mail
recipients from a list. Eventually anyone, including the public, can sign up through the
WFTGA website to receive direct mailing of information. Once the Secretary and other
Executive Board are trained for VR and it goes live, they will be able to direct mail to
specific recipients.
EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF TOURIST GUIDE ASSOCIATIONS (FEG)
Carlos Ortega (Spain), President of Federation of European Guides (FEG), spoke on the
status of European guiding issues: Setting standards. Updating training.
There are 840 regulated professions in the European Union (EU) - including Tourist
Guides. The EU is working to deregulate work across all of Europe so that people can
work wherever they choose. It is time we move on from efforts to stop deregulation
and focus on quality, training to upgrade skills, to provide great service to clients. We
desire authorities to protect the qualified TG. By joining forces we have more effect. It
is important to lobby EU Parliament - which is re-elected every five years - and we must
repeat our efforts with each new Parliament.
Online guide-booking portals allow anyone to sign up as a Tourist Guide whether they
are qualified or not. FEG started their own guide-booking portal for only qualified guides
of FEG. Training is important – what makes us unique is our area-specific qualification.
He discussed EU standards and who adopted these standards. EU standards are still
important because they are taken into account when International Standards (ISO) are
established.
The FEG convention will be held Nov 2015 in Moscow.
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SPONSOR PRESENTATIONS
Prague City Tourism
Their welcome to WFTGA included sponsorship of the Monday night Welcome Dinner for
400 at the Municipal House. An overview of their organisation's promotions and
activities was given. Prague City Tourism trains Tourist Guides in addition to promoting
tourism. They are not the only trainers in Prague, but the most respected. They work
closely with “VIP guides” and include them in designing programs.
Cafe Mozart
The assembly was addressed by sponsor Vladimir Zelinka, Café Mozart manager. Cafe
Mozart provided a reception, Welcome Dinner and drinks for the Delegates and
Executive Board on Saturday night, January 24th. They also provided catering for all
our events as well.
Viator/Trip Advisor
Though their guide-listing service is not exclusively for WFTGA members, Viator has
been a Sponsor and the only such Portal recommended by WFTGA for several years, due
to their agreement to investigate complaints from WFTGA members and remove
unqualified individuals from their site.
Viator was absorbed by Trip Advisor last year. Ms Loryanna Michalek, Viator Customer
Support, reported that Trip Advisor has been in business since 1995 and currently lists
20,000 activities, 1,500 destinations and 13,000 Tourist Guides in their Private Guides
section, in several languages. Their website is optimized for mobile apps, plus customers
can book in several currencies. Guides can register and create a Profile Page at no
charge on Tourguides.viator.com, but Viator collects a 20% fee when tour is
booked/paid.
During the Q&A session, Mary Kemp Clark (UK) and others complained that there are
numerous non-qualified guides and listings without license (or other proper evidence of
qualifications) on Viator's site and they keep coming back after complaints result in
removal. A considerable number of WFTGA members are extremely dissatisfied with
Viator since the Trip Advisor takeover.
The new Viator claims it is working on the license/ID situation with WFTGA to establish
what each license looks like. The process takes time because they investigate rather
than take anybody’s word that someone is unqualified and the work is done by a small
team. Send complaints like this to her at [email protected].
Esther Banike
WFTGA Secretary
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[email protected]
www.wftga.org
General Assembly Meeting Minutes - Wednesday, 28 January, 2015
Present at the Tables: WFTGA Executive Board and Delegates from 29 countries
(Delayed return of some regional bus tour caused the Secretary, a Board Member
and a Parliamentarian to arrive late. Topics involving voting were addressed once
all were present.)
Delegate list appended
Proxies: Three (3)
President Felicitas Wressnig called the meeting to order at 6:30pm due to late return of
afternoon tours.
CULTOUR CARDS
Delegates who signed up for Cultour Cards found them labeled by country on a side table.
All were provided with the number of cards requested, up to a maximum of 600. Countries
were asked to return excess cards, for use by countries that needed them. Beyond the
allowance of 600 free cards, an extra fee of 100 Euro applies for each additional 600 cards.
WFTGA'S WORLDWIDE GUIDING SURVEY
Though Govind Agrawal (India) missed the convention due to a family emergency, he
provided a brief report on the biennial guiding survey he conducts for WFTGA. When
available, the updated questionnaire will be uploaded to the WFTGA website under the
TOURIST GUIDING tab. We ask that each country complete the survey. The results will
help to inform about the regulations and conditions in various countries.
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MEMBER SURVEY
Vice President Wilja Siebe prepared a report on an internal survey she conducted to learn
more about our members and improve communications within our organisation. The
WFTGA needs to decide future plans and the members should have input - what do they
expect from WFTGA/ExBo?
The 14-question survey was sent to 84 members, first in March, then a reminder in June.
A 20% response was received, which is higher than typical results.
Wilja's entire report is available on request, but a sampling is included in these
Minutes: The survey included questions such as how long they have been members,
whether and when they attend(ed) conferences, visit our website and/or Facebook, read
WFTGA's Guidelines - and why for each.
Members were asked about their general satisfaction with ExBo, WFTGA and their WFTGA
Area Representatives. On the whole, just over 50% rated performance of WFTGA as
satisfactory or good. They suggest more two-way communications, especially for WFTGA
to facilitate communication amongst the members and between the Board and members.
Though attractive, much of the information in Guidelines Internetion@l is old news by the
time it reaches members.
This survey is considered as a first little step toward increasing ExBo's awareness of
member needs. The next step will be Thursday's facilitated Round Table Discussions which
will be open to all member-attendees. Topics were selected according to the survey and
the results from the discussions will bring additional input from members.
The Secretary returned with the other missing General Assembly members at this point.
The President announced that an Area Representative questionnaire and application has
been distributed. Those wishing to be Area Representatives should define the area for
which they wish to be responsible. It should be signed and sent to the new ExBo, who will
make the decisions.
PRE-ELECTION PRESENTATION OF 2015-2017 EXECUTIVE BOARD CANDIDATES
Each candidate had presented in advance:
 A Letter of Support from their association
 Their Curriculum Vitae (CV)
 Completed Questionnaire
The CVs and Questionnaires were distributed while Secretary Esther Banike read aloud the
names of candidates and positions.
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Moataz Abdel Megeed (Egypt) questioned why the Letters of Recommendation were not
distributed. It was explained that the letters are sent to ExBo for verification purposes and
all were carefully checked, then filed. It is "greener" to not distribute to everyone, but
copies would be given to anyone who insisted on seeing for themselves.
Candidates were asked to stand at the front of the room so Delegates could clearly see them.
A motion was made by Alexander Osipov (Russia) and seconded by Jimmy Chin Wee Quek
(Singapore) to name Roza Atanesyan (Armenia) as replacement Parliamentarian for Ruby
Roy (Canada) who was running for ExBo. The motion passed.
Each candidate had five minutes to present their case and answer questions.
For President:
Ruby Roy, Canada
Felicitas Wressnig, Austria
For Treasurer:
Hermann Friedsam, Austria
Roger Rajah, Malaysia
For Regular Executive Board:
Ardiola Alikaj, Albania
Esther Banike, USA
Ivana Curuvija, Serbia
Houry Nazaretian, Canada
Roger Rajah, Malaysia
Alushca Ritchie, South Africa
Ruby Roy, Canada
Smaragda Touloupa, Greece
After these pre-election matters, President Felicitas reviewed the Agenda and status of
each item.
VIATOR/TRIP ADVISOR
Many Delegates and members are unhappy with Viator/Trip Advisor and don’t want WFTGA
to continue their relationship with Viator. They complain of unqualified guides and
undesirable non-guide characters allowed on the site. Hermann Friedsam (Austria) said
there seems to be no process in place at Viator and if we continue to do business with
them, we should demand they put a process in place. Convention host Stanislav Voleman
(Czech Republic) believes their 2000 EU sponsorship is not a generous amount and not
worth spoiling our name. Cenk Cengiz (Turkey) suggested that each association could send
a list of members to Viator and require that only those names can be on the Viator site.
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Tina Engstrom (UK) proposed that....
....WFTGA disassociate themselves from Viator, not accept their sponsorship money and to not validate them.
The motion was seconded by Smaro Touloupa (Greece). This was followed by countersuggestions in general to advise Viator that we will continue the relationship once they
have put better policies in place - perhaps three months for Viator to make corrections?
After Parliamentarian reminded that additional suggestion can take place only after the
motion has been voted, Tina withdrew her motion and no vote was taken on above
proposal.
Tina proposed a new motion that....
....WFTGA disassociate themselves from Viator/Trip Advisor and not accept their sponsorship money and not to
validate them, to be in effect from the end of this convention, but with a possibility to review if the situation
improved.
The new motion was seconded by Smaro Touloupa (Greece) and voting took place, with the
following result:
For: 27 + 3 Proxies
Against: 1
Abstention: 1
Total votes cast: 32
ACTION ITEM: President advise Viator / Trip Advisor that our sponsorship relation with
them ends at the conclusion of the Prague convention, but their performance will be
reviewed through May 1st, 2015 with possible renewal of a formal relationship if
improvement in their performance is evident.
ANY OTHER COMPETENT BUSINESS (AOCB)
Jane Orde Scholarship
President Felicitas reported that the Jane Orde Scholarship is mainly funded by the Androus
Foundation and income from WFTGA Convention auction. Candidates for the
scholarship(s) apply by a deadline, then their situation is investigated and a vote is taken,
with first selections based on preferences of the Androus Foundation. This year WFTGA
added funds from the WFTGA Treasury and other contributions.
Although eight scholarships were offered for the Prague convention, only four were able to
accept: Joan Leacock from Barbados, DJ Apigo from Philippines, Tatyana Bukharina from
Ukraine and Tamara Levinson from Uruguay.
Tina Engstrom (UK) inquired about the selection criteria for Jane Orde Scholarships.
Androus Foundation makes their recommendation from the applications and ExBo votes for
final selections, applying considerations such as applicant's territory, and if they can afford
the flight and other expenses. These are most important. Mary Kemp Clark (UK) asked
that the Executive Board describe the process in writing and post it on the website.
Page 4 of 5
ACTION ITEM: ExBo add a paragraph in Policy and Procedures on the scholarship selection
process.
Stanislav Voleman, Delegate from Czech Republic and 2015 Convention Host, stated that
the host country is responsible for arranging visas, including for the scholarship winners
and it can take up to a year. He felt the scholarships should be decided at least a year
before the convention to give more time to organise visas, which can often be difficult to
arrange.
ACTION ITEM: Give scholarships applications an earlier deadline.
WFTGA English Usage
Several from the UK recommended that the WFTGA and ExBo needs to be more consistent
with the form of English used in their publications and communications. The Delegates
were advised that our training material is being revised and updated to include consistent
English usage.
In closing, Andrea Ogunbisi (Italy) asked each candidate for election to state whether their
country/city is regulated for tourist guides.
Esther Banike
WFTGA Secretary
Page 5 of 5
[email protected]
www.wftga.org
General Assembly Meeting Minutes - Thursday, 29 January, 2015
Present at the Tables: WFTGA Executive Board and Delegates from 29 countries Delegate list appended
Proxies: Three (3)
President Felicitas Wressnig called the meeting to order at 2:00 P.M.
SCRUTINEERS REVIEW OF ACCOUNTS FOR 2013/2014
Scrutineers Marian Bilacic (Slovakia), Aija Tamsone (Latvia) and Ardiola Alikaj (Albania)
reported that their review of WFTGA's financial accounts for 2013 and 2014 showed all
in order and well done. The President asked if they wanted to present details to the
General Assembly but the scrutineers declined.
A motion was made by Ruby Roy of Canada and seconded by Gene Reyes of USA that...
...the accounts as reported by the scrutineers be accepted.
32 ballots were cast: YES votes 29.
Proxies 3. The motion was carried.
Ardiola Alikaj (Albania) expressed thanks to Ros, Felicitas and all involved for saving our
accounts throughout the banking crisis in Cyprus.
ELECTION OF 2015-2017 EXECUTIVE BOARD
An explanation of the voting process was made prior to distribution of ballots:
The voting would begin with election of President, followed by election of Treasurer and
finally, election of five (5) regular Executive Board Members. To be elected, a candidate
must receive at least 50% plus one (1) of the votes cast. A new ballot would be drafted
and distributed for each round of voting.
Page 1 of 4
Because Ruby Roy (Canada) was standing for election, it was not possible for her to
remain as a Parliamentarian and she was replaced by Roza Atanesyan (Armenia),
although someone also from Armenia was standing for election. An Austrian
Parliamentarian remained in service despite two candidates from Austria on the ballots.
Parliamentarians who are not running for Executive Board are considered neutral.
For each round of voting, Assistant Parliamentarians Moataz Abdel Mageed (Egypt) and
Roza Atanesyan (Armenia) collected, opened, and revealed each ballot in full view of the
General Assembly. Parliamentarian Regina Macho (Austria) tallied votes on a flip chart.
ACTION ITEM: The possibility of equal votes for candidates exists and ExBo will add
information to our Policy and Procedures regarding how to proceed when that happens.
Andrea Ayodele Ogunbisi (Italy) requested that each candidate introduce themselves,
stating their country's position on Tourist Guide regulations.
To ensure neutrality, President Felicitas (who was running for re-election as President)
turned her Chair over to Vice President Wilja Siebe prior to the balloting for President.
Felicitas reassumed her position at the conclusion of the Presidential election and
continued as Chair throughout the afternoon.
Roger Rajah withdrew his name for President's position but remained as candidate for
Treasurer and/or Executive Board.
Election of President
32 ballots cast, including 3 Proxies:
Felicitas Wressnig 21 votes
Ruby Roy
11 votes
Election of Treasurer
Hermann Friedsam 16
Roger Rajah
16
Tie vote required a second round of voting.
Hermann Friedsam 18
Roger Rajah
14
Page 2 of 4
Election of Regular Executive Board Members
Ballots had eight (8) candidates, with five (5) positions available. Delegates could vote
for up to 5 candidates.
Ardiola Alikaj 14
Esther Banike 25
Ivana Curuvija 21
Houry Nazaretian 9
Roger Rajah 21
Alushca Ritchie 18
Ruby Roy 25
Smaragda Touloupa 18
Two (2) candidates did not achieve a 50% plus one (1) simple majority. These two (as
struck out above) were not elected, however, six (6) other candidates each received a
simple majority, but there were only five (5) positions available. Our Constitution does
not provide for the above situation.
The General Assembly decided to install the four candidates with the most votes (as
indicated above with green highlights) and for the fifth ExBo position, a second ballot
was conducted with only the names of the two candidates with lowest simple majority.
(Alushca Ritchie and Smaragda Touloupa)
Alushca Ritchie
18
Smaragda Touloupa 14
The new Executive Board:
President Felicitas Wressnig
Treasurer Hermann Friedsam
Executive Board
Esther Banike (later named Secretary)
Ivana Curuvija
Roger Rajah
Alushca Ritchie
Ruby Roy (later named Vice President)
Page 3 of 4
ELECTION OF 2017 WFTGA CONVENTION HOST
Three countries had presented bids to host the 2017 convention.
Denmark
3
Iran
18
Singapore 11
Iran will host the 17th WFTGA convention in January 2017.
With elections now complete, Parliamentarian Regina Macho thanked her assistants
Moataz Abdel Megeed and Roza Atanesyan. The host for the 2017 convention will be
announced at the Thursday night Gala event in Prague and the Iranian Delegates will sit
at President Wressnig's table. The new Executive Board will be introduced at the plenary
session on Friday.
Elizabeth Daude of Sweden suggested the Delegates be given a list of other Delegates
so they can become familiar with whom they served.
Esther Banike
WFTGA Secretary
May 2015
Page 4 of 4
Country Albania
Armenia
Armenia
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Austria
Austria
Canada
Canada
Canada
Canada
Last/Family name
Alikaj
Atanesyan
Bakhshinyan
Nazaretian
Bradley
Friedsam
Macho
Rahbar‐Schümatschek
Greer
Humphreys
Ornburn
Roy
First name
Ardiola
Roza
Lia
Houri
Ellen
Hermann
Regina
Martina Alexandra
Sandy
Linda
Cheryl
Ruby
Title
Ms.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Ms.
Mr.
Ms.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Ms.
Ms.
Ms.
City
Tirana
Yerevan
Yerevan
Whitby
Jane Brook
Klosterneuburg
Klosterneuburg
Wien
Langley
Toronto
Surrey
Montréal
Email
[email protected]
[email protected]
guild‐[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Denmark
Denmark
Egypt
Egypt
Estonia
Estonia
Germany
Germany
Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain
Vassiliou Markova
Palan
Sedlakova
Voleman
Jacobsen
Sundø Abdel Megeed
Gad
Erm
Steinberg
Alvestad‐Aschenbrenner
Reichlmayr
Engstrom
Hamilton‐Hercod
Kemp Clarke
Koula Dagmar
Hubert
Marina
Stanislav
Henriette Kragh
Marielle
Moataz
Nagwa
Siiri
Liina
Reidun
Georg
Tina
Maeve
Mary
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mr.
Mrs.
Mr.
Ms.
Mrs.
Mr
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mr.
Ms.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Nicosia
Praha
Praha
Brno
Praha
Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Luxor
Giza
Rebala küla
Tallinn
Munich
Dachau
London
Bath
Edinburgh
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
r.aschenbrenner@mgv‐muenchen.de
[email protected]
[email protected]
mail@maeve‐h.co.uk
[email protected]
Greece
Iran
Iran
Iran
Iran
Italy
Japan
Latvia
Latvia
Latvia
Netherlands
Netherlands
Peru
Philippines
Portugal late arrival
Russia
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovakia
South Africa
Sweden
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
USA
USA
Touloupa
Mohsen
Motahar
Nooraghaei
Sharif Ahmadi Golbani
Ogunbisi
Hasegawa
Antane
Brūvelis
Tamsone
Paulsch
Rijpstra
Oviedo Vela
Apigo
Leal
Kressova
Osipov
Ćuruvija
Lim
Quek
Wang
Bilacic
Stuhl
Ritchie
Daude
Lemon
Sitaprasertnand
Cengiz
Jensen
Reyes
Smaragda
Hajisaeid
Seyedeh Mahsa Motahar
Arash
Masih
Andrea Ayodele
Ikuo
Marija
Vijtauts
Aija
Wim
Marga
Isabel Patricia
David John
Cristina
Marina
Alexander
Ivana
Eng Hua
Chin Wee, Jimmy
Jean
Marian
Peter
Alushca
Elisabeth
Rune
Wirote
Cenk
Holly
Gene
Mrs.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Mrs.
Mr.
Mrs.
Mr.
Mrs.
Ms.
Mr.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mr.
Mrs.
Mr.
Mr.
Ms.
Mr.
Mr.
Mrs.
Mrs.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr. Mrs.
Mr.
Athens
Yazd
Tehran
Tehran
Tehran
Milano
Yokohama
Riga
Jūrmala
Riga
Amersfoort
Utrecht
Arequipa
Quezon City
Lisbon
Moscow
Moscow
Novi Sad
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Bratislava
Bratislava
Cape Town
Stockholm
Stockholm
Klongsamwa
Kusadasi
Chicago
Kenner
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
dj‐[email protected]
presidente@agic‐portugal.com
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
USA
Steinbock
PROXI
India
Indonesia
Spain
with Canada
with Singapore
with Austria
Joseph, Joe Mr. Silver Spring
[email protected]
PROXY
PROXY
NO VOTE
PROXY

World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations 2015 Prague

Transcrição

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