Chile promote destinations through virtual tours

One of the outstanding cases is that of Rosa María Recabarren, a guide from the Valparaíso region who tells a story about Robinson Crusoe, the island that is part of the Juan Fernández archipelago. For her, telling people about this place has been a rewarding experience, since “it is the place where I was born, I have lived here since my childhood. With my video, I can contribute to local tourism and make the beauties of our archipelago known to other parts of continental Chile and the world ”.

As in Juan Fernández, from other communes in different regions they have also contributed with their stories. So far, in almost all regions of Chile —including the insular territory with reports from Rapa Nui guides— more than 30 telematic transmissions have already been made with the participation of 60 guides, reaching almost 900 people.

 "One of the most affected groups within tourism during this crisis has been the tourist guides, so this program has been essential to provide them, on the one hand, an economic respite, as it is associated with a payment of $ 620 thousand for each guide, but also the confidence that this period will pass and tourism will stand up. There are more than $ 2,100 million that as a government we allocate for the exclusive support of these professionals from three axes: employability, formalization and training ”, affirmed the undersecretary of Tourism, José Luis Uriarte.

For her part, the national director of Sernatur, Andrea Wolleter, highlighted the contribution of Guides Stories at this time. “There are $ 1,600 million that this work implies with which we hope to reach 2,300 guides from all over Chile, a very necessary monetary contribution for these tourism professionals who, for months, had to freeze their operations. Likewise, we must be aware that we are in a highly technological era, which is why an initiative such as Relatos de Guía comes to respond to the challenge of digitization, since the use of technology has become essential to boost the competitiveness of companies. of the sector ”, explained the authority.

For the next few days, new instances of participation are scheduled throughout the country during August and September. To find out the dates and times of the upcoming Guide Stories sessions, check Sernatur's social media profiles and its regional addresses on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

More than 400 tourist guides are preparing for the reactivation.
"Guide Stories" is part of a larger plan to support tourist guides, which considers actions focused on job creation, as well as training and formalization for an investment of $ 2.1 billion. Precisely in the areas of training and formalization, the National Tourism Service provided, free of charge, more than 500 places for a first aid course for tourist guides from all over Chile. To date, over 428 professionals have successfully completed the course.

After this instance of training and once their evaluation is approved, the guides will receive a certificate that will allow them to enter the National Registry of Tourism Service Providers and be part of the formal offer in Chile. By complying with this, they will subsequently be able to access various benefits, such as participating in Guide Stories, the second call of which will be announced soon.