Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - Tour guides in Yogyakarta are important to support the image of tourism there, Indonesian Tourism Humanity Friendship Forum (Fosipa) chairman Sarbini said on Wednesday.

Sarbini said the tour guides could play a best possible role to attract as many domestic and foreign tourists as possible to visit the cultural city of Yogyakarta.

"Through their role, the image of tourism in Yogyakarta can be improved in order to have a positive impact on the tourists who visit the tourism objects in the city and elsewhere," Sarbini said.

According to him, the tour guides could act as spearhead of promoting the tourism objects in Yogyakarta to both domestic and foreign tourists.

"With their particular techniques and ways, the tour guides can make tourists enjoy their visit to the tourism objects in Yogyakarta," Sarbini said.

He pointed out that foreign tourists who got a good impression of the way how the tour guides guided them would then tell it to their

relatives on returning to their countries of origin.

"Therefore the tour guides have a very strategic role to play in stepping up the progress of tourism in Yogyakarta," Sarbini added.

He said that besides acting as the spearhead in the promotion of tourism, the tour guides should also have the sense of responsibility to the tourists whom they guided.

"They should have a moral responsibility to the tourists they guide, and they are also required to provide the tourists with the sense of comfort and safety," he said.

Therefore Sarbini added that there should be a special training

on technical skills as well as ethics and knowledge for the tour guides.

He said tourism department and tour guides organization would continue to improve the skills, capability, and the knowledge of the tour guides to make them more professional.(*)

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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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