According to Jan Papež, vice-chairman of the Association of Travel Agencies (ACK CR), in some cases it may even be people who have come to the metropolis for the first time. “They guide in Prague, but no Czech, on the other hand, can just do it in Spain. I don’t understand why our guides work without problems,” explains the foreign Pope.

More mobile travelers

According to the Pope, without quality services, including quality guides, the metropolis can never attract more affluent clients who will spend more money here and not just come for alcohol. The majority of tourists who now visit Prague stay in three, or at most four-star establishments.

“We have three thousand licensed and very experienced guides. They are vetted people who regularly take tests on knowledge, language skills and the like,” says Papež.

Miroslav Prokeš, secretary of the Association of Guides of the Czech Republic, thinks that the entire industry has not yet started to thrive after covid. A third of the original number of guides left the industry completely, and the conditions in their industries are still not optimal. “So far, more individuals than organized groups travel to us. Before the pandemic, a large part of the tourists were from Japan and Korea. They are not here yet,” explains Prokeš.

According to the interviewed experts, the path to certified guides should lead through tourist information offices. Especially the so-called “umbrella” guides catch tourists before they find their way to quality services. The traditional place where the services of unofficial guides are offered in Prague is the corner of Pařížská Street and Old Town Square.

When the editor of MF DNES came to see the place, he found five people with excellent knowledge, only one was visibly marked with a guide card. For others, there was no guarantee of the quality of the services provided. This was confirmed only further away, in the baroque complex of Klementina, where the “expert interpretation” basically only included incorrect information that it was a Renaissance monument.

A number of foreign guides behave similarly. The editor of MF DNES for an English-speaking tour guide without a visa on the Charles Bridge, whose interpretation was more reminiscent of an unprepared pupil at the blackboard. The tourist guide book she was clutching in her hand showed where she apparently got her information from.

Officers only respond to notifications

Controls of illegal guides are the responsibility of the police, but according to the city police, they only act if they receive a notification. However, the police officers do not have data on the number of controlled guides. At the same time, the activities are not legal, even if the guides with umbrellas with the inscription Free Tours do not ask tourists for money, but rely on tips. another trick is to disguise the wizardry by running public collections.

According to the Ministry of Regional Development (MMR), people without an ID face a fine of 100,000 kroner, and those who do not have a trade license face a penalty of even half a million.

Prague councilor Hana Třeštíková (Prague sebo), who is in charge of tourism, among other things, promises that the city, together with the police, will focus more on the control of compliance with the rules.

“We are also preparing a quality mark system, which has helped arriving tourists find their way around better,” says the councilor. Prague would guarantee stamp holders that they provide high-level services.

The municipal organization Prague City Tourism also promotes the idea that guides should have a fixed trade instead of a free one, and thus meet stricter criteria.

The national guide card now has two grades. For the first one, all you need to do at the MMR is to show your school leaving certificate. “Free Tours guides should have at least a first-class license,” Prokeš. Guides of the second degree have an exam with an accredited organization.