The state government will consider a proposal to issue special licences to trained geosite guides in Perak.
According to the Chairman of the Housing, Local Government and Tourism, Dato’ Nolee Ashilin binti Dato’ Mohammed Radzi, said that so far there is no specific licence for geosite guides.
“We admit there are groups there so to begin with, we plan to register them as guides under the State Parks Corporation first.
“The hope is that the matter can be thought about together alongside the central government. This category (geosite guide) does not fall between any of the categories so we will propose to the Federation to create a specific category,” she said.
“The state government will look towards getting recognition either through the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA) or the Ministry of Tourism,” she said at a press conference after officiating the closing ceremony of the Reskill and Upskill Programme of the Basic and Advanced Guide Course @ Geoguide Kinta Valley Geopark on Sunday.
Earlier in the programme, she said a total of 50 participants participated in the programme organised by the Department of Minerals and Geosciences (JMG) and KeTSA in collaboration with the State Parks Corporation.
She also said that it was an extension of the state government’s course together with JMG to hold a basic geosite guide training course for the Kinta Valley Geopark.
“This time the programme involves re-skilling and up-skilling conducted by Empire Putra College to re-sharpen talent, especially in producing Lembah Kinta Geopark guides,” she said.
Nolee Ashilin said, this course also covers various aspects including the development of promotions and tourism packages.
Also present were the Director of the Operations Coordination Branch of the Department of Minerals and Geosciences, Nizarul Ikram Abdul Rahim and the Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Perak, Nurmalis Musa.
By Rosli Mansor Ahmad Razali
