The National Federation of Tourist Guides and Affiliates (NFTGA) in South Africa has recently started charging annual membership fees to improve the benefits and co-operation of associated members.

The NFTGA is a non-profit company integrated with industry, responsive to government, and provides a unified voice for tourist guides, drivers and other tourism industry stakeholders. 

“During COVID-19, we put a moratorium on membership fees until we considered that members could again afford the nice things in life. But the time to restart the process is now. 

“We feel that members will only pay membership fees if they perceive the membership benefits as being good value for money. Once we have sufficient funds, we will migrate the system on to a website, but for now, our primary interface will continue being the NFTGA info group on Facebook,” Francois Collin, Media Liaison for the NFTGA, told Tourism Update.  

The NFTGA’s current groups, pages and broadcast groups on social media will continue, but as time goes by, it will migrate most of this content, functionality and information to its paid-up members-only services, and will reduce the amount of free support given to non-paid-up members.

“We are currently negotiating with several industry partners and stakeholders to put in place additional or supplementary negotiated benefits for our members. These benefits will soon include searchable online listings and a range of insurance and financial products. As we launch further updates and enhancements, we will inform all paid-up members directly,” added Collin.

Benefits of NFTGA membership

Collin provided the following benefits that the NFTGA membership will include:

• Membership of a national organisation that is much more than “just an association of guides for guides”.
• The NFTGA has an Executive Committee that includes tourist guides who are small tour operators, training service providers, small wheels operators, and a permanent representative from the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association (SATSA).  
• On the NFTGA Steering Committee, it has included representatives from other tourist guide associations, large tour operators and state-owned entities. This means that the NFTGA will be widely integrated and represented within the greater tourism industry. It has a broader perspective on issues that affect guides directly and indirectly, and has “a louder voice when standing up for its members”. 
• The NFTGA is the official South African member of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA). The WFTGA’s main purpose is to promote, market and ensure that tourist guides are recognised as the ambassadors of a region. WFTGA actively promotes member associations and industry partners worldwide.  
• The reciprocal NFTGA/SATSA agreement that it currently has in place, means that NFTGA members’ grievances can be escalated when appropriate to SATSA, thus providing recourse for members who have industry-related issues. These issues can also be escalated through SATSA and brought to the attention of the Tourism Business Council of South Africa, meaning that the problems experienced by its members can very often be resolved efficiently.  
• The NFTGA's good relations with the National Department of Tourism (NDT), the Provincial Registrars and several state-owned companies such as SANParks also benefit members, in that issues can be resolved quickly and efficiently.
• NFTGA recognition of not only tourist guide qualifications but also language skills, specialisations and other professional and industry standards, ensures that the credentials of its members are vetted.  
• The NFTGA aims to provide its members with various channels and platforms to market and define themselves and their offerings. 
• The NFTGA is also currently involved in NDT initiatives relating to inputs to the Guide Qualification Framework; and professionalisation of the tourism industry.
• Prior to COVID-19, the NFTGA were on track to establish:
  • A mentorship programme for guides wishing to stretch their boundaries.
  • A transformation initiative to bring more youth into the industry.
  • Support programmes for continuous professional development through its recognition and endorsement of a wide range of workshops, courses and training programmes to support tourist guides wishing to evolve and grow their careers beyond the basic guiding qualifications. 

“We are now again revisiting these programmes in the post-lockdown period,” said Collin.

The NFTGA has also been instrumental in setting up and/or supporting several industry initiatives, including groups on Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram to assist tourist guides, drivers and tour operators with:

• Cross-border travel processes and requirements.
• Vehicle permits for wheels operators.
• Safety and security issues.
• Route closures and problems.
• General tourism-related updates and information.
• Assisting members with letters from the NFTGA as a tourism industry body supporting their applications for vehicle charter permits and/or operator licences from the National Public Transport Regulator.

Membership fees will be valid for 12 months from the month of payment.